Grayed-out World
by TitanOfStone
Summary: A few weeks after their ventures to France to fetch Timothy, a new exorcist was recruited in by Daisya and Chaozii. Akihiro Rei is an exceptionally talented doctor, and a good and easy to get along with kind of person. Secrets are all around her, and something dark is lurking behind the corner. Who is she, really? [Slight AU with Tokyo-ghoul inspired/slight crossover alert]
1. Chapter 1

**_Hello! Well, this OC struck me while I read about five or six manga plus three animes at the same time, so you will catch some of the things pretty quickly. I portrayed my OC as a physician because I have knowledge about one and know a few who's one. On the side note, my other stories got a bit harder to write since there's a lot of things to cover before I can finish it, and this was way more interesting to me than it should. So... yeah, you have that lol_**

 ** _It is KandaxOC, so he will be OOC at one points or another._**

 ** _This story will mostly be told from a third person point of view, and will only be in first person once in a (long fucking) while. And, yep, profanities ahead ladies and gentlemen._**

 ** _I DO NOT OWN DGM. If I do the stories will go darker and bloodier than it already was..._**

* * *

 ** _Chapter One: Newcomer_**

"A new doctor, really?"

"And she's an exorcist, too."

"A _woman_ doctor _smarter_ than the current chief? You're joking!"

"She's also very kind, I'm telling ya."

That probably summarized the things they've been talking about this past few days, really. Eavesdropping in the cafeteria actually updates you to almost everything you need (or just want) to know.

Allen had heard about her for the quite a while now, and a lot of finders were so fond of her they had erected a secret fan base (sort of) with Lavi as the head. He had asked the redhead what's with the new exorcist, and Lavi only winked and said to check her out on his own. So he slapped Lavi upside down and went his own ways.

A few days later, after a mission where he had got himself enough injuries to be forced to the medical ward (which, if he recalled correctly, was exactly one week after she was recruited) and met the new addition. She was a tall Asian woman with black hairs and chocolate brown eyes, her lower face concealed in a surgical mask as she examined Toma (who had a cut wound in his back). He saw her nametag only briefly; _Akihiro Rei_.

Japanese, huh?

"Hello, there." She had said, jolting him out of his mind. Allen looked up as she pulled her mask down to reveal her warm smile. Her eyes wandered to where the Rose Cross was, and she lit up. "Ah, an exorcist, I see! I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself to you guys yet."

"Ah, that's not a problem!" He said, regarding her with the same kind of smile she gave him. "I heard from Lavi – faintly – that Komui-san _asked_ for you to work part-time as a physician? That's kinda nice. Oh, by the way, my name is Allen. Allen Walker." He offered his hand.

"Akihiro Rei," She said and took his offer, shaking it twice and gestured for him to sit down at the examining table. She wrote something down, pulled out the chart, and flipped a few pages. "And yes, since I graduated from a _far-away_ med school and worked at a few hospitals before as a Trauma Surgeon, Komui-san saw it fit for me to work here, as well."

"Trauma Surgeon? You must be very good, then." He offered with a bright smile as he took of his coat. The nurse – the _head_ nurse, he corrected himself absently – pulled the curtain close.

"Define "Good"." She murmured and put on her frameless glasses, pushing it up her nose with her index finger. "Anyways, let's see to your wounds first, and we will talk after. Shirt off, please."

He complied and sat in silence as she examined him – palpating here and there with a hum once in a while – and recorded her findings in the chart. After she was more or less done, he asked tentatively. "Um… Akihiro-san…"

"Rei is fine." She stated. "Can I call you Allen?"

"Sure, uh, Rei- _san_ ," Somehow he felt the need to treat her as a good and proper senior. She is more of an older sibling than that jerk Kanda. "I am kind of curious about your Innocence. I only heard it is a suitcase…?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, it is." She replied absently as she pushed him toward the minor operation theater, where a lot of people were having their wounds cleaned up and stitched. Rei, despite her look, had a lot of strength, as she shoved him down quite easily with one hand while the other fetched the dressing kit. When she finally cleaned the blood from the wound, she made a sound. "Ouch."

"Um… what was it?" He asked, nervous.

"Well, looks like there's a lot of – what's this, _gunpowder?_ – in your wounds, so I'll have to _be a little harsh_." She made a face again and put on a pair of white sterile glove. He paled when she draped two square gauzes in antiseptic, one for each hand, and…

"Are you going to _rub it off?_ "

"Why yes."

"Oh my –"

Needless to say, he was _very_ sour and unable to move afterward.

And that's the first time Allen met her, a kind doctor who's (not) gentle.

And his question about her Innocence was left unanswered.

* * *

The second time they met was probably after he returned from a mission with BaKanda ( _why_ Komui-san had to pair him up with that jerk all the time, he just had no idea) and reporting in at Komui's office (of course, with that idiot). They were greeted by the young doctor, who was discussing _something_ with the Supervisor, with this gloomy air about them. She noticed them from far off, and stopped whatever she's saying at once.

"Well." She began, sounding a little nervous as she frowned. Her deep brown and unreadable eyes were locking onto him for a few seconds, then to Kanda, and then to Link who's behind him. She mumbled something to herself before turning to face Komui. "I think we'll have to figure that out, sooner or later, Komui-san."

"I agree, I agree," His reply was quick, and forced. "Anyway, aside from that, there _is_ something I'd like you to check out. We're able to procure remains of a few Akumas, and I'd like you to join me in the Autopsy."

She glared at him for a few seconds. "… _how_?"

"Trust me; you do _not_ want to know."

"I still do."

"Alright." He said, resigned, as he put his coffee mug (with bunny) onto his desk and rubbed at his nose. He waved for Allen and the others to come in and take a seat first before explaining. "You remember that one in the Grotto –"

She paled. "Oh my _god,_ are you –"

"I told you, you do _not_ want to know."

"Yep," She agreed flatly. "Now I regret even asking. So, if you don't mind, I just got pinged by the CCU that some _idiot_ just sticks an ICD with a trochar into the patient's _lung_. I'll just excuse myself out now…?"

"Why don't you tell me that before?" He slammed his fists onto the table. She didn't flinch. "Just _go_ already, Akihiro-kun."

"Mhm."

When she reached the door and was about to turn the knob, Komui stopped her with a cough. She only tilted her head slightly and hummed. The Chinese man seemed hesitant, unsure, and pensive. Then he gave her a smile, a kind of smile Allen had never seen on Komui's face before. "Thank you."

"Why should you?" She shot back immediately, a coy smile crossed her feature as she winked and put a finger to her lips. "It's my duty, _sir_. And it's not like I was forced or anything."

"Oh, one more thing," Komui said and held her there. When she turned around to face him, Komui brought up black suitcase with golden linings. "I have finished analyzing it. This thing is a masterpiece."

She smiled and caught the thrown suitcase with one hand and, in a single fluid motion, threw it over her shoulder. "I told you so. Well, I'll be off now. Give me a holler if you have a mission for me."

And she left.

"What was that about, Komui-san?" The question left him before he even knew what he's doing. He heard Kanda grunted in disapproval. Allen had shot him a dirty glare as he put the reports on his table. "And where is Fray-san? Was she not your secretary?"

"I asked her to excuse us a moment prior. It's a private conversation," Komui said, rubbing his knuckles rather nervously. "It's about dead Akumas and their corpses; she said something about performing Autopsies before."

"Um… why?"

"Who knows?" He asked back, his eyes casted to the side. "Don't worry about it, Allen-kun. Anyway, welcome back. How's the mission?"

"Why do you always insist I work with _this idiot?_ " Kanda deadpanned as he entered into, yet again, another glaring contest. Allen had been trying to give Kanda's head a new hole, and was stopped only because Link strode and stood in between them.

Kanda only huffed, crossed his arms, and looked off to the side.

"The mission's fine, I guess. But _this idiot_ here," Allen jerked his thumb at Kanda's direction, and got a snarl in return. "He _broke_ the mountaintop into a thousand bloody pieces and caused _an avalanche_. We almost died, but we did not thanks to Link's Flaming Wing."

"Haha, you only fear death by snow because you _suck_ , Beansprout."

"The name's _Allen!_ "

"Would you please stop that?" Komui said, although he already knew that would be of no effect. Despite their bickering, Allen and Komui both knew that they worked well together… well, not on emotional level, but you do get the point. "Anyway, thank you. I'll be waiting for your written reports, but for now, report to the medical wing."

"What? Why? We've got no wounds." Allen stated.

"Akihiro-kun had made it _very clear_ that no exorcists who had come back from a mission be neglected. All must be thoroughly examined and only let loose once there's no injuries found."

To his surprise, Kanda only groaned and nodded, walking off.

"Why's he not upset?"

Komui laughed nervously. "He got his shoulder popped because he disobeyed her a few days ago. I think he… had learned not to anger _a certain person_."

He was surprised, truly. Only Lenalee managed to force him to do something, but getting shoulder popped? Oh, speaking of that… "Komui-san, what is Rei-san's Innocence? I heard it is a suitcase. _That_ suitcase, I presume?"

"Yes, and before you ask, it's already in that shape when Daisya dropped her by us." Komui replied casually, taking a small sip from his cup of coffee. He frowned a bit and continued. "The suitcase, from her words, is like "A folded Swiss knife" – it's a shapeshifting equipment type weapon she called _IXA_."

"What is it? A gun? A sword?"

"A sword that can morph its hilt into shield, and from her words, there seemed to be more. And her Synchronization Rate on the Innocence is 97 percent."

"Oh? She's a near-Critical already?" Well, from her demeanor and the vibe he got from her, saying that he was surprised was only half-right. "So is she waiting for a teacher?"

"Hmm, sort of, yes." He replied, twiddling his pen absentmindedly. Another frown appeared, and it was gone as fast as it came. Allen caught this, but he decided against saying anything. "I'm thinking about assigning her to General Sokalo… as _mad_ as he may, she did mention that her weapon works on the same basis as his. Anyhow, Allen-kun, you really should see Akihiro-kun now, or you might get grinded to death by her boot."

"Get –" His words were lost as his mind recited his words. "What by _what?_ "

"Trust me, you don't want on get on her bad side." He said with a kind of smile that shouted _"I've had first-hand experience!"_ into his face. He just got chills by looking at fear-stricken face of the Chinese man. "Just go. I'll be seeing you later, Allen-kun. And you too, Link."

"Alright, then. See you later."

He _did_ get his face acquainted to her _boot_ when he arrived a bit late that day.

And his second impression is this; _do not step on her foot. Ever._

….

"You suck, Link."

"I'm not. It's just that Johnny is good at this."

"Well, it's your turn now. I'm waiting."

One more week later, they were sitting in the cafeteria, with Link playing chess against Johnny on Jiji and Reever's request – _humor him_ , they said – and this is the third and final game for the day now. They've been stuck here for at least four hours trying to beat each other, to no avail. Link took game one, and Johnny game two. This one will decided the winner, and Allen (plus Lavi) were trying their damnest to demoralize Link.

Lenalee and Daisya looked with great interest as Johnny made a move to counter Link's bishop, and the latter groaned, scratching at his two-dots absently. He closed one eye and sighed, returning to rubbing his chin in order to (try) solving this problem.

"Well, what have we here?"

They all turned to the voice, which belonged to Akihiro, who had a piece of bacon in between her teeth and a tray of medium rare stake in her hands. She poked her head in between his and Lavi's shoulder, stared at the board for a minute before laughing. Puzzled, Allen asked, "Um, what's funny?"

"Seems like our Inspector here has caught himself up in quite a bind," She remarked with an amused smile as she silently asked to seat beside them, with which Allen replied by scooting over so she could sit next to Link. "If I were you, inspector, I'd snap that bishop down to E3."

"What?" Both players said simultaneously. She ignored them and put a piece of steak into her mouth.

"Well, it's your game, Link-san. My advice, though; if you don't do anything soon, you're going to get caught in a deathtrap."

"What deathtrap? My pieces are defending each other nicely."

She smiled quite tauntingly at him. "Are you sure?"

It was Johnny turn, and she silently asked for his permission. She moved in a way none of the two would, and Link almost laughed. It was a few turns later when the things she said become apparent; she had caught Link in a terrible lock down, where every piece get eaten or – ahem – _cock-block_ ed when moved. Link groaned and slammed his head on the table.

"Told you so," She said, putting the last bite of the steak into her mouth. "You are very good at this, though… just a little short-sighted, but definitely good."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment," Link stated bluntly. "Where did you learn to play chess, Ma'am?"

"Just Rei is fine," She waved him off. "I had a childhood friend who loved this game. We played it together. We're still tied in points to this day."

"Aha. That explains it."

"And, oh, Allen, Link-san," She mentioned, and after counting with her fingers, added, "Also Lenalee-san and Lavi-san," Before pointing her fork at the rest and stood up. "I heard Komui-san have a mission for us. See you in a few?"

"Um, sure?" Allen said questioningly and let his voice trailed off when she rounded the corner and disappeared, leaving a chessboard and a group of awe (and dumb) stricken people behind. He heard someone cough, and Allen took it upon himself to clear the board. "Well that was a nice game. Should we get going now then, Link?"

"I should think so," He mumbled quietly as he got up to his feet. Allen could hear Lavi whistling in approval and Lenalee watching the direction with which Rei had went in awe. The CROW started at the two for a time, and then; "Sorry to say, but I think we should hurry a bit. I heard she _hates_ people who are not on time."

"I have never seen her _hate_ someone," Lavi pointed out bluntly, slapping the table softly once and sprung to his feet. He then offered Lenalee a hand, in which she graciously accepted. "Well, maybe _threatening_ someone, yes, but I have not seen her expresses anything akin to _hatred_."

"We'll see about that."

Once they arrived at the Command Center, Rei had already donned her exorcist uniform; on the inside is a black sleeveless shirt with straps much like their usual exorcist uniform, and she wore a black overcoat with the tail split in two and stopped just around her knees. There was something – a mask, Allen reckoned, steel-like and blood red – hanging at her side. Her suitcase sat just around her right leg as she turned her head to greet them.

And across from her was Kanda, who had his arms crossed and his face set in a neutral expression. His eyes followed her gaze as they walked in.

"Ah, there you are. Alright, Komui-san, time for mission briefing."

"I'm still amazed at how quick you can flip your switch and your clothes." The Supervisor remarked with a smile on his face as he waved for the five of them to come in. Rei remained standing with arms crossed while Lenalee and Lavi each took one end of the couch. Once everyone is settled, Komui coughed once to bring their attentions to him.

"Let's hope this is _not_ another mission in the alcove," Allen heard her mumbled under her breathed before Komui talked.

"So, the finders reported in missing civilians in Russia, about a hundred miles away from Lake Bikal. It's said that there _was_ a small town there, and every night someone would just vanished. It took only a month for the whole village to evacuate out of there, and so that place was left barrens. But it is a good location for hunting and living in General, so we are going there on two accounts; to establish local contacts for the future, and to find out and exterminate Akumas that we find."

"Good _god_ , that sounds like the Alcove." She said, throwing her head backward and sighed. "Komui-san, do _not_ call me a beacon of bad luck."

"You said it, I didn't." He joked back, then settled down again as he handed each one a file. "You'll go to _Chita_ , first, then you'll have to go there by foot; right now most carriages services are on hold due to increase raids in the roads – we suspected that to be from the Earl's influence."

"Alright, then," Allen said, flipping the page a few times. "When do we leave?"

"Now."

"Fine." Kanda said forcibly, clicking his tongue once. "Let's go, Beansprout."

" _The name's ALLEN_."

* * *

After they arrived in _Chita_ , Rei told the others to wait for her in the town's hotel and went out gathering information alone. Allen learnt from the finder – Gozu – that she could speak Russian, which made her three-language speaker, and she was fluent in all three. As much as he'd hated the idea of letting her go alone, her logic of too many people going might attract Akumas convinced him otherwise. She had hid her crest under her overcoat, and since she was still new to the Black Order, she doubted that the Earl would have that much information on her.

Besides, _no one_ (not even Kanda) could refuse her request…

…Especially when she was cracking her knuckles like that.

"I heard Chaozii and Daisya found her." He stated to the air, hoping to learn a little bit more about the woman.

Lavi hummed as he leant back against the chair, both hands clasped behind his head. "Yep. From what Komui told me, they were _saved_ by her when they first met. She single-handedly destroyed two Level Fours, with minor injuries."

"Level _Four_? And _two_ of them?" Lenalee questioned, and when Lavi affirmed with a nod, she hummed in surprise and awe. "Wow, then she must've been very good. General Level, I'd presume?"

"Her synchronization rate is 97 percent, from what Komui-san told me." Allen recalled, tapping his chin thoughtfully. He frowned and continued; "She must have been close to pass the Critical Point now."

Kanda, who Allen least expected to join the conversation, said with hesitant admittance, his brows knotted together as his eyes gazed out the window into the snowstorm. "She asked me to train her in swordsmanship, and I've seen her Innocence first hand."

"And?" All of them, except for Link, chirped up in curiosity when Kanda said that. The Japanese's eyes lingered outward a little longer as he involuntarily _shivered_ – something he never thought possible to come from the Japanese man before him.

"She called it _IXA_. When she activated it, the suitcase's interior shaped into black rapier-like sword. It's hard as steel – even Mugen can't make a dent on it – and it has ridiculous sharpness. You've seen the marks in the training room number 1, right?"

Allen recalled – there were four pillars in that room and one in particular had a good chunk at least half its diameter missing…

"Wait," He said. "Her Innocence did _that_? Without any special skills used?"

"Yes," Kanda affirmed. His hands seemed to twitch a little. "I called it bullshit when she said she didn't know swordsmanship. But she really doesn't; the only thing that made me initially thought she was an expert was because she always aimed her sword at weak points and, in the training, purposefully avoid any fatal points in my body."

"It's to be given, really," Lavi commented from the side. "After all, she is a doctor, and a Surgeon at that. Anatomical knowledges are her specialty. But to think she'd be that adept at using it in combat seems unusual. Did Rei-chan say anything else to you?"

Kanda ignored the urge to ask Lavi why he wanted to know, Allen could tell that much, but the man swallowed the insults down and replied. "I did get curious myself, so I asked. Akihiro only said that she had minimal training in something called _Krav-Maga_ a few years back because some patients attacked other medical staffs, so the hospital she was with at the time issued a standing order for the members to be trained."

"I didn't strike you for the type to ask about personal matters, Kanda," Allen commented without any ill-intent he would usually have.

Kanda frowned deeper, if that was even possible. "I don't know that either."

Lavi seemed a bit uncomfortable now, and he shifted in his seat. Allen asked him with concern looks, in which he said without verbal prompts; "That's odd; I've never once in my life heard of this _Krav-Maga_ before."

"I guess Bookmen can't know everything." Allen murmured.

"That's the problem;" Lavi said. "It's our job to _know everything_. I know about any and all martial arts there is, trust me, because it is essential in recording and understanding wars. There's no way in hell I won't know one. I even have knowledge – although minimal – about even the most reclusive like _Istunka_ or the more famous ones like _Gatka_ or _Shastara Vidiya_."

"Maybe this is one of the new ones?" Allen said, a bit surprised by Lavi's rather unusual nervousness. The red-haired bit his nails repeatedly.

"Maybe. I'll ask gramps about it." Lavi finally caved in. When Allen thought the subject would die down. Before any of them could diffuse the tension, the door to the hotel room there were in burst open, and Rei (whose shoulders and hair were covered in snow) walked in with her pitch black suitcase, now slightly _bloodied_ , clutched tightly in her hands.

She sighed and scratched the head. "I was going to suggest waiting 'till the storm passed before making our way to the lake. Guess what happens."

"My eye didn't detect any Akuma," Allen stated bluntly, looking at the woman who now gave him an unreadable glare. His eyes turned to Lavi, who looked as dumbfound as he was. So he asked. "What happened?"

"The disappearance was caused by a group of Akuma _specializing_ in remaining hidden. From what I gathered, it seemed each of them was accompanied by a Magic Ladybug –" She slapped her face so loud Lenalee jumped, and dragged her fingers passed her face with a groan before continuing. "So your eyes will be useless in this mission, Allen."

"And where did you get that –" Lavi began, but then, after a long look at her Innocence, with a few scratch marks and dents here and there with _black_ blood on the casing, he understood. "– Ooookay, forgot that I ask."

"I manage to wring out something from the ones I killed," She said, fishing from her coat a small green object – _an Innocence_. "I have no idea why in the world would they carry this around – in a closed container – but at least it's now in our possession."

"Where are the rest of them?" Kanda asked.

"At the lake. They said there's around a thousand Akumas gathered there."

 _"_ _A thousand!?"_ Allen half-yelled. Lenalee gasped and Lavi was torn between wanting to throw up or just accepted the fact and started analyzing. Kanda, as per usual, seemed annoyed by the sheer number. Link, from Allen's edge of vision, visibly frozen as his eyes now locked on the Japanese woman.

"We can't charge in recklessly." Lavi stated, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, his green eye flickering out the window. "We have to –"

As he started mumbling, the others listened closely. But then Allen realized Rei wasn't paying much attention, instead her concentration was pointed at the Innocence beside her. Her fingers fidgeted at the handle, rolling something that looked like a numeric lock back and forth repeatedly.

After that, they argued about their best course of actions. A thousand Akumas were like a throwback to their time in Edo. They were lucky then, because the Earl was distracted and General Tiedoll was there. Lavi had suggested that Link used his Crow gimmicks to slow the flanking ones down, but the latter said that he couldn't hold Akumas off that long. And then there were the fact that they didn't know the composition of the Akuma forces. If there are more than a few Level Fours, this will become an impossible task.

"Uh… guys?"

Rei said amidst the raging chaos, and all stopped to look (or rather, _glare_ ) at her. She scratched her chin thoughtfully as she pulled the suitcase upright so that it was clearly in their view. " _IXA_ has… certain _gimmicks_ to help deal with flankers and long-range shooters. I can do a support and let you fire at will while protecting you."

"No offense, Rei-chan," Lavi said, both hands in the air. "I speak only for myself here; I don't know you that well. I didn't mean that I don't trust you elsewhere, I'd gladly let you operate on me. But I've never seen you in battle, so I don't know your thought processes when fighting. I can't put my life in your hands."

"Lavi, that's uncalled for!" Lenalee scolded.

Allen, however, agreed with Lavi. The only reason he would let Kanda looking after him in the field is because he knew the man, how he fights, and can adapt accordingly. "I have to agree with Lavi here, Rei-san. I'm sorry."

To their surprise, she only shrugged. "Well, I can relate. In operating theater, the best surgical team is the team that knows each other well. You can't do complicated surgeries when your anesthesiologist can't monitor the blood pressure to your likings or the scrub nurse can't tell what piece of equipment you're going to use next."

"You're quite open-minded." Lavi stated.

"I'm only a rationalist, Lavi-san." She said with a smile and got up. "I can lure a few Level Fours – if there are any at all – to follow me. They can't crack _IXA_ 's defense that easily. I can guarantee you that."

"Won't you be endangered that way?" Lenalee inquired, worried. Rei only laughed light-heartedly and waved her hand in denial.

"I've been fighting two Level Fours alone before. I think I'll manage."

"That's just reckless, Rei-chan." Lavi protested.

"Wasn't like we're getting any other choices." She shrugged and got up to her feet, stretching her body as she went. Pulling the black scarf coiling around her neck up to cover her lower face, she said; "We have to do this soon. From what I interrogated from the Akuma, they planned to wipe this town out in a span of a week. The longer we wait, the more lives we lost."

"Well, let's us settle with the third plan then. Rei-chan will lure the strong ones and the most troublesome ones out. I and Link will cover you guys. Yuu, you and Lenalee can stand at the center and took them out. Allen, shot those shooters down from the sky as fast as you could."

"Roger that!"

* * *

The storm picked up its pace as they trudged through the knee-high snow.

Their visibilities were hampered so severely that any ambush was, in the least, guaranteed to have some casualties. It was a bad moment to choose to attack, but what Rei had gathered cannot be ignored; the lives of both finders who still needed time to evacuate from this region, and those of the villager, were all at risk. And from the villagers' knowledge, the storm had just started and would last for more than a week. That narrowed down their option to one.

Allen squint his eyes to try to have a better look at his front. Kanda was walking in front of Lenalee, his left arm shielding his eyes as he followed Lavi and Link, whose weapons and charms were ready to be deployed at any given moment. Allen's arm itself had already changed, since he was a rear guard along with Rei. Speaking of Rei –

Her weapon was as Kanda had described it; pure black rapier-like sword with thicker-than-normal blade, razor sharp edge, and as broad as a man's arm. The hilt was protected from above by cup-shaped guard, and the front of her knuckles was covered by black, single-scale strip that extended from the top of the handle to almost the bottom. She had the blade rested on her shoulder as she walked beside him, her eyes scanning around them carefully.

The wind howled so loud that they had to shout to talk. Since he was not quite sure what to make of her seemingly carefree stance, he asked. "Rei-san! Why would you place your sword on your shoulder like that!? Wouldn't you be unable to react when the fight starts?"

"This?" She said back, less forcibly than he did. No one in front of them could hear their conversations, he reckoned. "The blade is heavier than you think, and this stance is actually historically, theoretically and practically correct! You can swing it top-down faster than if you carry it at your side!"

This, he didn't know. And since he himself wielded quite a heavy blade, he had got to ask. "How?"

"You're already at half swing in this stance! My blade pointed up into the sky, and even if the range is diminished a little, the reason that you cancelled a part of your strength needed to carry the blade means you can swing harder, even if it only works at first strike, it allowed you to react faster!"

"I see! Thanks for the tips!" He shouted back. That was actually a good one.

She smiled under her scarf and looked forward. "Well, looks like we're there."

No sooner than the words left her mouth has the swarms of Akumas, now protected against Allen's eye, descended upon them. To his surprise, Rei was the first to act; she bolted forward past the front guard and swung the blade down. As fast as she had told him, and as strong as she had bolstered. _IXA_ cut a charging Level Three in half. In a fraction of second, she leaped into the fray, stabbed the closest Level Four in the eye. Grabbing the a Level Three with her other hand, she turned to look at them before throwing both the Akumas and herself into the snow and drew one more Level Four and a lot of Threes to her.

"Rei-chan!" Lavi shouted. Even if Chaozii and Daisya said she was good enough to destroy two Level Four on her own, that number – Allen would estimate it to be around a hundred or more – would be a bit too much for even a General in this kind of weather. Before he could pursue the woman, he was forced to activate his Iron Hammer to stop a barrage of fire from killing them.

"We can go help her later!" Kanda bellowed through the storm, slashing Mugen through the air and summoned the Netherworld Insect upon the many Level Three. A Level Four sneaked around his back, but was stopped by Allen's Crown Belt.

"How many Level Four here, Lavi!?"

"Two that I can count!" Lavi replied and called fourth his Seals. "Fire Seal! C'mon, roast these pieces o' shit up!"

The fire snake rose from the ground at his command and, even if they couldn't quite destroy the Level Threes, most of Level Twos in the area were burnt to ashes in that instant. The fire snake then headed down and crashed with the profaned angel and pushed it far back into the line, giving them some time.

"Two-moles!"

Given that it was not the time for banters, Link nodded. "On it!"

The yellowish papers flew from under his sleeves and snaked past the other Akumas at the front and bound the Level Four to the ground. And with that, the stage was set, with the exorcists stood beside each other in a line against one Level Four, the other immobile at the moment, and a fuckton of Threes.

With a grin, Lavi said; "Let the dance begin!"

Kanda and Lenalee rushed up to take on the Level Four, leaving Allen and Lavi to fend off the small ones and keep those things off their backs. Link did a splendid job keeping that one Level Four and some of the flankers at bay, the white-haired sourly noted, while Lavi seemed to be having too much fun at swinging that gigantic hammer of his around.

Allen called for Crown Belt and cut the incoming Threes into pieces, their blood and oil sunk into the snow, dying it with such profaned color that did not belong to the pure-whiteness at all. He grabbed his left wrist and pulled at his arm, calling forth the Sword of Exorcism.

With what Rei had told him earlier, Allen placed the sword on his shoulder and noticed the effect it had – his arm muscles are much less tired compared to constantly holding it, and while the numbers of swing was reduced, it had been wickedly compensate by the speed and strength of a single swing. Allen then experimented on it by going full throttle at ten demons that bolted his way.

With a single, powerful strike, they scattered and lay dead at his feet.

"Nice one, Allen!" Lavi called as he spun his hammer in front of him, blocking any projectiles from the horde. "Quite a swing, that 'ne."

"Rei-san literally told me this a few moments prior." Allen informed Lavi and resumed the process; took a stance, bait and attack, swing, repeat. No more than a few minutes and more than fifty Akumas were downed.

"Jesus, that woman is _suuuupppppaahhhhh_ scary."

"On that, we can agree."

The Clown then threw his had forward, with white Crown Belt cutting through the air and whizzed past Lavi's only eye, striking at the ambushing Akuma and threw it into the one trying to sneak at the defending Kanda, making both of them tumble off balance and buried deep into the snow.

Speaking of snow, Lenalee did fine because her boots allowed her to grace on the wind and air itself. Kanda had a harder time fighting, since he relied more on his mobility on ground than his strength (but, Allen thought admirably with a little bit of grudge, that Kanda's strikes did make his sword-arm numb once). And thus the Akumas – who had come to realize this – changed their targets and aimed for Kanda instead.

The Level Four, out of nowhere, drew out a bloody-ass giant hammer off of its arm and smashed it down without mercy. Lenalee was in time to get Kanda out of the way, but they ran into another Level Four, now freed from its restraints.

"Lenalee! Yuu! Watch out!"

Suddenly, however, the snowstorm receded and the lingering, thick blankets of white dispersed into thin air. This made Kanda tumbled (since he probably was standing on the snow itself rather than the ground) and saved both his and the Chinese's head by avoiding the blow. The two false angels collided against each other and knocked off a Level Three's head.

"The fuck?" Kanda hissed, quickly sprung to his feet while aiding Lenalee to hers. The Japanese looked at them. All the Akumas they had killed, one was probably the cause of the snowstorm…

"Rei-chan?" Lavi chirped.

"Link!" Allen cried and called out a great numbers of white strings, binding and tangling the Akumas in his wake as he made his way toward Link who had doubled over with blood seeping from under his gloves. "Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine," He wheezed. "I just can't use the spells anymore, so you will have to make do with what you have left."

"Thank you, Link." Allen said with a smile and straitened up. He and Lavi cracked their necks as they glared down the remaining few Level Three – about fifty or so. "Lavi, we've got to help those two quickly."

"Don't need to tell me that twice, ya lil' beany." Lavi said.

"The name's Allen, idiot Lavi."

In the distance, a great beast roared.

* * *

 ** _There you have it! Well, the updates will be pretty sporadic, so please forgive me since college is pretty demanding. And I am pretty unpredictable when it comes to writing fics, since I often switched between playing games, reading, writing, writing music, playing music... yup, that's a lot of multitasking._**

 ** _So, please Review and comments anyway you like! See you later, dear folks!_**


	2. Chapter 2

**_Hi there again! Jesus fuck Kanda is so OOC in this chapter._**

 ** _I will give you a lot of hints about a lot of things. If you recognize the reference, do NOT spoil it! lolz._**

 ** _I'll refrain from spoiling things, but let's say that the timeline have changed quite a lot. Some characters are saved, some are not, and all will be explained wayyyyy later in the story._**

 ** _And Kanda self-persecute. I was actually fangirling when I write this chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it! Cheers!_**

 ** _And, oh yeah, maybe TYPO ahead. Hadn't checked that much :p_**

 ** _PS. Just so you know, Rei is good at changing subject forcefully :p (just to explain my jumping in topics, duh, but seriously, she is good at that)_**

 ** _So... let's go ahead! :D_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter Two: Just another mission_**

The Earl watched with great interest.

Amongst those cretins, there was one _failed experiment_ he had hid in the shadow, waiting for an opportune time to strike. When the woman exorcist drew two Level Four and a hundred or so Level Three – half their fire power, so to speak – and fought them on her own, he ordered the Wicked One to take a peak. Road was behind him, looking at the mirror which reflexed the Failed One's eyes. Unlike the usual "show", she paid special attention to this one.

The woman fought with grace and tenacity. Each strike she made aimed not to weaken, but to kill. That black rapier could turn into an invincible shield and revert back in seconds, and she was rather proficient at that. Not only did her mastery of the weapon terrifying; her unusual strength, agility and surrounding perceptions were as astounding. She could parry an attack from what he would call a blind spot and retaliate with such precision she might just overpower Cross as easily.

She dodged so many attacks from blind spots that it could no longer be called a hunch or a coincident; it was something more. It was as if she had a special sense, of sort, something the Earl couldn't quite put his fingers on. The Earl and Road continued to observe from the eyes of the Failed One silently as she mowed down his magically-guarded Akuma.

She took one step to the side and narrowly (he knew it was calculated) avoided the Level Four's lunge attack. She stabbed the rapier to her left and behind her, impaling the Level Three through the eye. She pulled it out quickly and violently, spraying the blood and oil into another incoming Level Four, whose sudden blindness caused it to miss and tackled its own ally.

"That girl is too skillful to be a newcomer." Road pointed out, pursing her lips slightly. "Why have I got the feelings that I've met her somewhere before?"

"Oh?" The Earl hummed curiously. "When might that be?"

"I think it's a few years back… Lisbon. She… she was bracing through the storm with a similar scarf and outfit. There are people with her then, and she already had that suitcase, although this looks more extravagance than last time."

"So she must be experienced in combat, then." He murmured. "Still, the way she handled herself; it was as if she had a third eye. I wouldn't be surprise if she had a pair of eyeballs behind her head."

They stopped talking when she narrowly avoided a Level Four's lunge attack by side-stepping and jabbed forward, catching the Akuma's shoulder. She flicked her wrist and sliced the arm off before throwing her sword behind her back, the front guard of the sword facing the many Level Three that prepared firing on her.

When they did, the guard expanded into six-leaf-clover like shield, covering all but the pommel and the blade that faced against the fire, and it repelled the barrage with ease. She didn't even need to stab the sword into the ground to withstand them. When there was an opening, she stabbed into the air, and one by one the Akuma began to fall, a single hole in each of their faces.

"She's quite something." The Earl murmured.

"Indeed she is." Road muttered back. "Are you going to release it?"

"No, this is not the place and time for it. And I doubt she will fall to it that easily. There's no need to reveal the aces up our sleeves just yet." The Earl reasoned as she gingerly rubbed at his beard, brows furrowing.

"I'll just tell the others that they should be careful engaging her." Road said and got up, only to be stopped by a grumble from the Earl.

"Tell them to avoid confronting her for now. Until I can discern her _true_ power, I'd rather not any of us taking a risk. Such a strong individual, but one that had averted my eyes for so long… she reminds me of Cross, only more dangerous."

"I'll tell Tyki and Wisely to find an information on her?" Road suggested.

"Please do."

The Earl's gaze lingered on his daughter for a moment before returning his undivided attention to the one-sided brutality in the snow-covered land of Russia, where his plan for "Material" had fell to ruins.

* * *

"Haa… haa…"

They were all on the ground, one way or another, corpses of Akumas littered around them. They were all wounded, Allen's being the worst off; his left arm was cracked and bleeding profusely, his body filled with many scratches, cut wounds and bruises. The others were none the better; Kanda had a cut wound along the length of his sword arm and a nasty burn that span the entirety of his back. Lenalee's right leg was burnt by acid and riddled with holes, albeit not deep, it was still a pain. Lavi scored himself a few broken ribs and a broken wrist. Link was relatively safe compared to them, but he still sported quite a bit of burns and bruises here and there.

Two Level Fours are just handful, and they had not even the strength to go check on Rei who was dealing with a group with half the strength of what they had dealt with all alone. They hadn't managed to contact her either; she might just be busy, or she was downed already. Link had volunteered, but Allen shot that idea down, saying Link had already exhausted his spell charms.

They were in quite a bind, indeed.

"Dammit…" Allen gritted out. "There's just – God, I'm _weak_."

"I wouldn't worry too much about her, if I were you." Kanda said from the side, poking cautiously at the burn on his left arm. He flinched as he did. When Allen gave him a glare, he waved the younger off and scoffed. "If she can best me as easily as she did, I doubted she'd have much problem killing those things."

"Did you forget about the difference in numbers, Yuu?" Lavi stated, leaning against his upright hammer. He took in several deep breaths before continuing where he left off. "She might be a perfect warrior in one-on-one, close-quarter combat, but _this_ is different. We have to –"

"Even if that's the case, what can we do about it? The only thing we're going to be is a hindrance." Kanda spat. This was the truth that they found very hard to accept. "I know when I'm unable to fight, and so should you. What'd you do when you get there? Be her cannon fodder? You'd just become another _useless piece of shit_ that would get her killed."

Those were the truths. And Lavi promptly shut up.

"This is frustrating." Allen spoke at last, voice broken at the end.

She had just come here, looking like a good person to get along with. And in her first few missions, she was going to just _die_. Allen huffed in frustration and slumped onto the floor. Even if they got there, they'll just be, as Kanda said, a hindrance.

When he was about to try getting up, however, there was a roar from where Rei had went.

And a body of an Akuma went flying over his head and crashed-land into the pine tree. They followed the direction is which it came from, and the woman – now wearing her red iron mask – came stalking down the hill. She had blood with a bit of fleshes all over her body and face. Her eyes were fierce, and her eyebrows cocked up in a sneering way – with the head of both her brows pointing upward and the corner drooped down.

The Akuma stumbled up the tree, revealing it torn and tattered arms and legs – it was a Level Three, Allen noted dully. Rei brandished her sword once and went to where they all rested. Her eyebrows returned normal for a moment as she looked at each of them silently. After a while, she spoke. "I see that you are _not_ that Okay. Are you feeling light-headed or numbness anywhere?"

They exchanged a look before Allen spoke up. "Not that we're aware, no."

She breathed out a sigh of relief and nodded in acknowledgement before her brows and eyes went back to how it was. She glared the Akuma until it sank back into the ground and, with anger clear in her usually calm voice, spoke with such authority the white-haired couldn't help but shiver.

"Now… do you mind telling me why would the Earl go this far as to conceal you from sight? Is there a particular reason?"

"I'm not telling you _shit_ , bitch!" The Akuma snarled back as it attempted, for who knows how many times there, to get up. Kanda looked slightly disturbed when he looked at the Asian woman, and Allen hadn't caught on to that until he too looked upon her.

Her expression was severe; her eyes looked as if it could burn the Akuma into dust in an instant, and even if her mask covered half of her face, he could feel her teeth bared as her brows arched up further into what he would call a mix of disdain and disgust. She stood there rigidly and, when that thing finally fell back to the snow, spoked each word slowly and clearly;

"I will not repeat myself. _Why would you go that far?_ "

Still no answer.

She retained that look for only a fraction of second more before he face finally relaxed and her shoulders stopped tensing. She sighed and swung her sword to the side, returning it to the form of a suitcase. She then offered Allen, who was still on the ground, a hand. "Come on up, Allen."

"Uh… uh, sure." He said, hyperaware of the fact that he had absolutely no idea what to make of her. But her expression now was serene, calm; that front of a frenzied beast had disappeared. So he took her hand and got up.

Once the others were on their feet, she took her mask off, shrugged, and then pointed her thumb at the Level Three, looking at Lavi as she did so. "You mind taking care of that?"

"No problem."

Lavi said and as fast as an injured man could, brought up his hammer and slammed it down onto the ground. The seal formed itself under the Akuma's feet and, with a grin on his face, he muttered the word.

The unfortunate soul was roasted in mere seconds.

"And that concludes our mission." Rei said after the flame died down. She then asserted everyone's injury briefly, rubbing at her chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, your injuries aren't fatal, and they are, for some miraculous reason, missed your nervous and vascular systems. We'll have to take a look at those burns a little closely, Kanda-san, before the skin contracts and it prevents you from moving freely. And Lavi-san, can you move your fingers?"

"On the hand with the broken wrist, right?" He asked absently and moved his index finger a bit before winching in pain. "Ow."

"So your median nerve is fine, good, good." She mumbled.

"You're amazing, Rei-chan, anyone told you that?" Lavi complimented.

She gave him a faint smile and nodded her head. "Whether it's doctoring or fighting, I always get something along that line. However, I considered myself to be subpar in both fields."

"You're a humble one, ain't cha."

"Hardly. I'm just a realist, Lavi-san." She replied vaguely and gave him a small, not-so-genuine smile. The air around her grew a bit heavy, so the Bookman Jr left it at that. "Let's go back to the hotel first. The finders have brought some medical supplies due to my instruction; I'll dress your wounds and let you rest a day or two before heading back to the Order."

Allen subconsciously touched at the wounds on his left arm. "You can help the others; my arm is fine on its own."

"I've had basic studies with parasitic-type Innocence, Allen." She said with a warm smile as she looked at him through the corner of her eyes. "Don't worry; I'll not drill something out or hammer something to bits like Komui-san did. That is just _disgraceful_."

"If you say so, Rei-san." He caved in. At the way she said _disgraceful_ , he could just imagine the Supervisor shivering from head to toe.

"Well then." She said and began walking towards the town. "Let's return."

* * *

Kanda had to admit, her hands are very soft.

And once that thought crossed his mind, he immediately punched himself.

Rei, who was cleaning the burn on his back, looked at him in mild confusion and what he reckoned to be amusement. He only gave her half-glare, turned back, and rested his head on his hand. She had tended to Lavi's broken wrist by binding it in place with small wooden board and white long medical tape. He was next on the list, and normally he would have complained and shrugged her off. But as he had previously stated.

Her hands are soft.

He resisted the urge to punch himself in the face again and just settled on meditating in that position, where he sat on a round chair, his back facing her, his elbows resting on the wooden table. She started by applying something with strange yellow-brown color, something she identified as Betadine, and cleaned only around his burn wound. It stung, but her soft application of the antiseptic reduced the pain quite a bit.

But right now, she said she had to remove the slough (the dead skin and the harden secretions) from the burn in order to let it heal faster. He normally would reject it, but since she had told him she knew about the Second Exorcist project, then she must've realized that his regenerating power wasn't that great anymore. Besides, she was the doctor, she hadn't done a single thing – whether it be in battle or in the medical wings – unnecessary before, so he decided to trust her judgement and let she did what she did best.

She was silent throughout his treatment, whereas she chit-chat cheerfully with Lavi while she was tending to his injuries. Kanda, albeit grudgingly, appreciated her thoughtfulness and her excellent read of characters. There was a reason why everyone seemed to take a liking into her so fast; it was because she could judge a person's characteristic accurately and act in the way that suit her and the other party.

But he noticed it, no matter how good her mask was, because she was very akin to Lavi, in a way.

Her smiles were forceful at times, sometimes sad, with a tinge of regrets. If he were to guess, she must be hiding a painful past. Something akin to that, or perhaps she didn't want to get involve. She must've been like him, someone who had lost a dear friend, and lived on carrying that regret with her.

However, she never brought it up, just like him, and kept on that façade so perfect that he'd have mistaken her for a Bookman. Lavi noticed that, too, he knew it, but that man took no part in a war, so he didn't say anything against it. It wasn't as if she was a spy, or there wouldn't have been a trace of sorrow and dead in her features like that.

He was jolted out of his thoughts when she rubbed particularly hard on a certain burn at the middle of his back.

"Sorry, sorry!" She quickly mumbled and pulled off her hand. He heard sounds of metal clanking against each other. She had turned away from his back and tinkered with the supplies finders had brought to their rooms not so long ago. "I was using too much strength. I apologize, Kanda-san."

He really wished she stopped using formalities with him. It's making him, say, _uncomfortable_ and _nervous_ when he tried to be mean. This is as bad as with Lenalee. He couldn't even find it in him to lash at her. "…It's fine."

She bowed slightly once and handed Lenalee, whose wounds were deemed not quite severe and was patched up by the field medic instead, a tray of used equipment and blood-secretions-soaked gauzes. "Would you mind handing these to Maria-san outside? She'll know what to do."

"No problem." Lenalee wobbled slightly and took the tray from her hand. With a slight nod in thank you, Rei returned her gaze on him and picked up a new set of gloves and equipment.

"I'll continue now, Kanda-san. May I?"

"Yes." He had replied shortly.

And she had resumed, only it was softer than before, if that was even possible. He remembered the head nurse, whose treatments were so harsh that he just accept the lost in his life span and escaped instead. If Rei wound do this every single time, then –

He punched himself again, and felt blood dripped down from his nose.

"Why would you punch yourself, Kanda-san?" Rei asked, half bemused and half concerned for his mental stability. He only looked at her blankly, his fingers touching at the drops of blood. She stared at him some more before smiling tiredly and fetched a small pack of gauze from the nearby tray.

Very slowly, she reached up and wiped the blood away.

"Your nose looks broken." She remarked quietly, her chocolate-brown eyes locking into his. And in that moment, Kanda just forgot to breath –

Before her fingers reached his nose, he heard coughing from the side.

"Really, Rei-chan? You're picking _this guy_ , of all people?"

"What the fuck – it's not _that_ , Rabbit!" He bellowed, feeling his face heated up ever so slightly. He instinctively looked at the woman beside him to see what kind of reactions she had, and…

…she was chuckling.

"Surely you jest, Lavi-san." She replied with an everlasting smile on her face. Her fingers brushed his nose carefully, examining it, before she continued. "A relationship for me is just _not_ possible."

"How so? I know for a fact that you're damned _sexy_ –"

"Lavi, stop it!" Allen said, blushing slightly.

"And I'd be your boyfriend instantly if you just asked."

"You would? Interesting." She murmured, mainly to herself as she pulled her hand away and tapped at Kanda's shoulder, urging him to turn his back to her again. He complied without a word. "But you, of all people, should know why I would call a possibility of me having a relationship a jest –"

He felt her gaze shifted to the red head, whose eyes grew slightly _sympathized_ and dark. Kanda didn't see her expression, but he could guess –

"Aren't you, Lavi-san?"

"I'm sorry." The red head said heavily, his shoulders slumped and his head dropping slightly. "I shouldn't have crossed the line there."

"You have not, I can assure you that." She said warmly and returned to her previous task of caring for the nasty burn on his back. After a full minute of silently working without anyone uttering a word, and after Lenalee had come back and sat down beside Allen, did she continue. "It's not like you know about it; you just deduce the story you observed from my body language. Ah, that reminds me; have you ever study psychology before?"

"I have a bit, a basic for reading humans. It's one of a Bookman's qualification, if I do say so myself." Lavi said proudly and held his head high again. "You must have one too, am I right? Even though you're a surgeon, you seemed pretty well-versed in the ways of words."

"Indeed. In fact, I'm interested in exchanging my knowledge with yours once we have some free time." She offered the Bookman-in-training. Kanda jolted and almost bit his tongue when she peeled off the (probably) last dead tissues from his back (gently, he knew that, but still it took him off guard). "Sorry, sorry, that was careless of me. Are you interested, Lavi-san?"

"Of course!" The man exclaimed enthusiastically, and had Rei not been there, Kanda thought he might've introduced his heel to Lavi's cheek. "I'll be lookin' forward to it then. Should I bring gramps?"

"If he is interested, yes." She affirmed, and then nudged the underside of both of Kanda's arms. Hesitantly, he lifted them up, and felt her draped wet gauzes all over his burn, careful not to touch the good patch of skin. Then she bound white bandages over his torso with care.

Her fingers brushed his skin a little –

When will he stopped being distracted this often _?_

"Alright, done." She said and patted his shoulder. Rei stood up, rubbing her left hand over her right absently. That's when Kanda noticed a part of her skin peeled off. They were abrasions, maybe a bit deeper than that

"You're injured?" He said before he could think, and nearly slapped himself for that. He didn't care, so why did he even have to ask?

"It's fine, I just handled myself a bit sloppily back then." She said evenly, fisting and un-fisting her injured hand as if to test it. Then she frowned upon seeing the faces of her companions. Even Kanda was a tad concerned. "It's nothing; really, I'll take a look at it once I get back. We don't have enough supplies to care for all of our wounds, and mine are the most trivial ones."

"Are you really okay, though, Rei-san?" Allen said. "You've fought the amount of Akumas the five of us could barely take care off on your own –"

"I've been in a worse situation; you can count me on that." She replied, her expression unreadable, but there was a bit of amusement there. And some… Kanda couldn't put his fingers on it. "This didn't even make it into the top three. You must've heard of the Grotto mission, the first one I had, right?"

"What Grotto –" Allen began, but was stopped by Lavi.

"That was _you_?"

"Mhm. That was me."

"What the fuck is she talking about, Lavi?" Kanda said sharply, and after a pause, he made almost the exact inquiry. "What the fuck are _you_ talking about? What fucking Grotto?"

"A week ago, I heard that a settlement of Finders was raided. An exorcist had been sent there to investigate, and was caught in a trap the Earl laid there." He explained, his eye grew wide with each passing second. "It was you? You're the one who was forced to –"

"I'd appreciate it if you don't mention that last part." She cut him off. Although she didn't do it as forcefully as Kanda would have, had he been in her spot, it was still noticeable that she was not fond of the subject being brought up. Actually, scratched that; she was annoyed, more than anything. "Ah, forgive me for that. Old habits die hard. Anyways, that one I was pitted against the same numbers of Akumas _we_ faced today, _alone_ , with a Noah to –"

"You _what!?_ " They shouted. Kanda almost did that, too, but his impeccable control managed to keep his tongue at bay. Allen continued. "You actually _survived_ from that magnitude of attacks? But, how –"

She tapped the suitcase twice. "This thing has more to it that meets the eye, Allen. It has more than just turning itself into a shield. I called _IXA_ a "Trick Weapon" for a reason."

"So it has more form than one? Neat." Lavi whistled in amazement before he settled his mood to where it was; slightly bewildered, with a hint of fear of the unknown hidden. He couldn't blame Lavi, though; he had just the exact same thought. "But how did you survive? Even if it had more forms than one, just the sheer number and a Noah's involvement wasn't something you could have handled alone."

"Or can I?" She winked at him. "Let's drop this heavy topic for another time; it's your turn, Allen. Let's take a look at that arm of yours."

And just like that, her activity resumed, not even an evidence of their conversation remains.

* * *

"Good work, all of you!"

Komui chirped happily once they crossed the gate. Not to Kanda's surprise, a team of medical staffs were already there, waiting. Lenalee wobbled to her brother's side and hugged him before she was shipped off to the medical ward with, much to the older man's surprise, little resistance. Well, after Rei had told them on their way back about how she had reformed the medical faculty of this place and told them that "Early ambulation is much better than staying in bed and lie still, as long as you don't overdo it", it occurred to them that at least they'll have more things to do than just stay and rolled around.

That resulted in little resistance when they needed to shift into medical wards. Kanda knew exorcists are bunches of irrational people (he grudgingly included himself there, too), but she managed to beat reason into them by means of convincing if-clauses, simplified reasoning, and a lot of different things. True to Lavi's earlier comment when they had had a conversation while she went out to get some fresh air, that she had her ways with words.

Even Kanda found that hard to argue.

"Alexi-san!" He heard Rei called a name from behind him. And then a man, with pale blue eyes and blonde hair, popped out from the crowd. He waved at her as she briskly made her way to him. He then faintly heard their conversations (no, he wasn't eavesdropping), "How're the patients?"

"They're mostly improving, except for bed number 7 and 13." The man, Alexi (and someone Kanda assumed to be a physician) reported. "Number 7 had had his leg re-infected. While you were gone, his skin necrotized, so I took the liberty to perform tissue debridement and started ATB yesterday."

"NF, huh?" She murmured. He had no idea what that meant, but the man nodded, so he guessed it was a medical term. "Good call on the early surgical debridement. But how in the high heavens did the initial infection worsen to that degree?"

"Erm, I – I thought it was just a normal cellulitis at first, and – and he had no severe pain whatsoever, just that… just local pain, so I started IV antibiotics and – I'm terribly sorry!" Each passing words added more anxiety to the man that Kanda thought was possible. And at the end he just bowed deeply, the last words coming out a bit too loud.

To his surprised, Rei was not at all angry. She patted his shoulder and said softly. "I'm not trying to blame you or anything. Because if there's a problem in identifying an infection, we'll work it out together."

"Yes! I'm sorry!"

"And stop apologizing." She said light-heartedly. "Besides, NF can mimic the signs and symptoms of cellulitis, pretty much. You did a good job identifying NF right away."

"Thank you very much!"

"And stop with that, too. Let's continue this elsewhere." She said and nudged the man forward. Before she followed him, she turned to the other exorcists and waved. "Be seeing you guys in a few!"

"Um… sure?" Allen waved back. When she disappeared from sight, he caught Allen's eyes, and suddenly the boy looked mischievous. His brows furrowed; he had seen that before. This –

"You're in love with her, aren't you?"

– has never been a good sign.

"I'm not, you idiot." Kanda retorted back instantly, arms crossed. He instantly regretted that, however, since the burn on his back got stretched, and he (no, he had not) yelped at the sudden pain. It was not much, but he was caught off-guard. Reaching one hand to rub it, and the other to find Allen's collar, Kanda glared down at the ever smirking younger male. "Stop staying stupid shits."

"Well, at least you're in awe." Allen said nonchalantly. Kanda found out that what he said was actually something he couldn't deny. After he let Allen down to stand on his own, the boy curled his lips into a cruel smile. Oh boy. "And, know it or now, you're _ogling_ in her direction."

"I did _not_." He denied angrily. What the fuck –

"You've been staring at her when she talked to the doctor, aren't you? Admit it, Kanda, you _are_ ogling at her."

"If you know that she was talking to a _doctor_ , then I'm going to assume that you are eyeing her as well, then?" He retorted. That man, Alexi, wasn't wearing any white gowns, only a white shirt and a sweater.

"I'm not! I just assume Alexi-san –"

"And how did you _know_ his name, exactly!"

Allen opened his mouth to retort, but he soon realized his mistake and shut it. And he opened it a second time, only to shut it again. That reaction brought a wicked grin to his mouth as he returned the favor. "So you did eavesdrop on her, didn't you, _Beansprout?_ "

"The name is _Allen, BaKanda!_ "

"Guuuuuuuys," Lavi dragged his voice and separated the two with a light push. Because neither had an advantage over the other, they opted to settle down and probably will find another way to get back at the offending party. Lavi sighed exasperately. "Seriously, though, everyone looks at her. I mean, she's just plain _hot_ –"

"It's because you're a womanizer, Lavi."

With an easy grin, Lavi retorted Allen with a smile. "Well, ain't we all?"

"I'll just… head to the medical ward later on." Kanda asserted, distancing himself instantly. He still remembered the first time he ignored Rei's request of examination, and his shoulder was popped. It didn't hurt but… his pride took a dive then. He'd rather not have that a second time.

"It's unusual of you – no, rather, of _all of us_ – to go there voluntarily." The red haired said and looked down at his wrist. "I should probably go there now. I hope you'll be there in time to meet me, Yuu-chan."

"Don't call me that, idiot."

"I see that Akihiro-kun had made you all see reasons." Komui said as he approached them, hands still scratching the pen through the paper on the board. Bridget Fray was behind him, her face as neutral as ever. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay, I guess…" Allen trailed off, and instantly paled. "You're not going to _drill_ my left arm again, are you?"

"Of course I will!" He chirped energetically. "Akihiro-kun suggested we use combined inhaling anesthetic agent with intravenous ones to induce you into a deep sleep. You won't feel pain then, and after you wake up, you'll be given, let's see – _Tramadol_ , a type of painkiller, if you will. You should feel good as new once I'm done."

"If it's not her name you're bringing up, I might throw up and leave." He said with a humorless grin, then looked down at his injured arm. "Seems like I've exerted myself too much; I can't heal my left arm like I used to."

"We'll worry about that later. For now, go changes or something first, then reported to the medical wings. You'll be given proper treatment then."

"Roger that."

* * *

She exhaled tiredly as she leant back against her seat.

Right after her mission, Alexi had not seen her taking a leave for once; she just went straight to the medical wings and took care of any problems they had on hands. After that, she just didn't leave – probably checking on Lenalee Lee's conditions – and even so, she remained. He could tell just by looking she's dead tired, and her eyes were glazing over.

He put the stack of the patient's charts down onto the nurse's counter and walked up to her, placing his hand on her shoulder as he approached. She gave him a weary smile. "Oh… what's up?"

"Nothing, Chief." Despite being almost a decade older than her (He was 29, period), he respected her intelligence and her skills greatly, to the point of total admiration. To say that she's everything he had inspired to be was not far-fetch at all. "You really should get some sleep. As I thought, resuming your work as soon as you return from a mission is disastrous for your health."

"Mhm. I have overestimated my stamina." She mumbled almost incoherently at this point and placed her hand on his and gave it a light, reassuring squeeze. "Thank you for your concern, Alexi-san, but I'll manage."

"You might be the Medical Chief, Rei, but I'm also a director assistance of the Order's personnel management department."

She caught wind of that quickly and gave him a wry smile. "So you're using your authority in a different field to kick me back to bed."

"That's not the words I have in mind, but the essences are the same." He said with a shrug. Jerking his head towards the door, he turned her chair so that she would face the exit. "C'mon, chief, go get some rest already. During the past few weeks since you're here, you've been working at twice the pace of Chief Komui's First Division Science Department."

"Maybe you're right." She admitted at last, putting down her pen and took off her frameless glasses. "Mhm. I definitely need rest. Could you please take care of the others for me? They should be here any minute now."

"Of course I will." He replied. "C'mon now, go before I kick you out."

"Haha." She let out a chuckle and got up, swaying on her feet slightly as she had a hit of vertigo. "Oh. This is worse than I thought. I'll be back –"

"Don't set the alarm clock, that's an order." He said and knocked her head with his fist once. She let out a small yelp, and once she stopped rubbing that sore spot, he placed a hand on her head. "Have a good night sleep for once in your life, Rei. Don't worry, I'll somehow manage."

"I will take your word for it." She took off her gown and draped it over the chair. Giving him one last, almost-dead smile, she waved. "I'll see you… when I'm awake. Don't know when, though."

"You needn't hurry. Grab something to eat, bath, and other things like that first. If you stink, I'll not allow you in."

"So mean." She pouted and stuck out a tongue at him.

"Yeah, keep on pouting. That ain't working on me, Chief." He joked back at her pouting face and tapped her in the forehead. "Goodnight."

"…Mhm, 'night."

Once she was gone, he took a peak at her notes scattering on her personal desk, and to say he was surprised would be a major understatement. She had written out the progression of disease for every patient, reviewing their meds and other planning of treatments, and writing down her plans for tomorrow. He admired her for this, her dedication to work is unmatched, and so is her intellect. But she's destroying her health for this, so once in a while, Alexi will, at least, give her a bit of a rest.

He was a bit skeptical at first when they first met, but someone that Chief Komui _personally_ recommended must mean that someone's brain is not to be taken lightly. Her skills with the sword is on par, or maybe even paled, in comparison to her knowledge in medical fields and her skills with the scalpels. And unlike most Surgeons he had met, she cuts only when necessary, and tries to avoid unnecessary number of operations by careful planning.

Even the old chief, who gladly resigned his place for her, couldn't match her.

She even advanced their knowledge even more by writing and telling them everything that she knew. When he inquired her where all these body of… seemingly _futuristic_ advancements came from, she just smiled and said it's an accumulation of experiences. He didn't believe her, naturally.

After all, just nineteen years in age couldn't have enabled her to gather this much information on her own.

There was a knock on the door that jerked him out of his thought. Without waiting for his consent, the Head Nurse let her head in, three clipboards in her hands. "Chief, they're – oh,"

"I just kicked her back to bed, Matron." He replied with a weak grin and walked up to her. Holding the door for her to properly enter, he continued. "Sorry to disappoint. She gave me a green light to examine them, though."

"It's a good thing that you did, don't worry. That girl told others to rest, but overworked herself half-to-death every day." She complained mostly to herself and, much to Alexi's surprise, she sighed and smiled sadly. "Rei-chan is a very kind woman indeed. It's a good thing she's here. But I'd hate to see her fall ill during her works or get injured in the battlefield."

"She's an exorcist; that cannot be helped." He lamented quietly. "Ah, called Kanda-san in first. The other two have more patients than he had, and I have a favor to ask of him. Somehow, I don't believe the Chief had gone to sleep yet."

"So you have the same hunches as mine." Matron echoed with a faint, dead-beat smile. "Time to change the shifts, so I'll be going now. See you tomorrow noon, Second-in-command Alexi."

"Jeez, stop calling me that. You're embarrassing me."

The Head Nurse chuckled, calling Kanda inside – and he thought he heard a grunt in response, too – before going. "Goodnight."

"And to you."

Once she was gone, he waited a few more seconds before the door opened again, gentler than anyone would think possible from Kanda, of all people. The younger male's expressionless face turned slightly sour as he looked around. Before he could even utter a word, he stated bluntly. "Wasn't it Akihiro that was in charge of me?"

"My apologies, but she was practically dead on her feet, so I sent her off. Do you mind letting me examine you instead? She gave her permissions."

The mention of her name gave the exorcist a pause, he noted silently. Kanda lingered at the door only a second more before he approached and sat across from him, legs crossed and arms resting on his knee. After a tense silence, where he stripped down to the bandage Rei dressed him, he spoke. "What do you mean by dead on her feet?"

"In case you hadn't realized," He began, gently and carefully peeling away the cloths that surrounded his torso. There were hisses here and there, but Kanda made no attempt to move away, so he continued. "Ever since she got here, she got no more than four hours sleep a day. We've been asking for her help a lot at first, and she took it upon herself to care for everyone here. I'm still amaze at how she could remain standing."

"That idiot." Kanda stated, hissing again when he rubbed away the sloughs that had started to form. It took them a few days for the snowstorm to subside before returning, so no doubt it would be so.

"That is why I wish to ask something of you, Kanda-san." He murmured quietly and took his chance before Kanda reacted to continue. "I doubted she had gone to sleep as she had promised. Can you find her and sent she back to her room properly?"

He knew Kanda was going to ask why. After all, such was not in his interest. It was none of Alexi's place to ask for this kind of favor.

But for some quaint reason, Kanda agreed. "I will."

He refrained himself from asking why – for now, at least – and continued. "She might be training, or reading in the library. Or better yet, she might be in her room, only to record or write or whatever strikes her fancy."

There was a strange expression creeping onto the Japanese's feature. His eyes squinted as he gritted. "Is she a god fucking workaholics?"

He chuckled at this. "Yes, she is, more so than the Science department."

He heard a click of tongue, and nothing more.

And after Alexi had thoroughly made sure Kanda was patched up good and proper (much to the latter's annoyance), and when he was about to bid the man farewell, the question slipped from his mouth; "Why will you do it?"

Kanda stopped in his track and remained silence. As Alexi was certain his one question will be refused any answer, the younger male spoke, his voice slightly unsure as he felt a frown crept up on the younger's feature.

"I don't know that myself."

And just like that, the man was gone.

* * *

 ** _Annnnnnd that's it for this chaps! Do you guys like it? Hate it? Don't know what to think about it? Please do leave a review and comment however you like! If you people are inclined, you can ask Rei questions directly XD_**

 ** _Thank you for reading! And see you next time!_**


	3. Chapter 3

**_Hello there, folks! This one is mostly, if not all, fucking FLUFF. I squeak as I wrote this one. Kanda is more OOC than the last - mine godd what have I done D;_**

 ** _Anywhos, just a heads-up, I have 2-weeks straight of exams, so I'll have to excuse myself and disappear for awhile. Three weeks, I think :l Please don't kill me. D:_**

 ** _Soooo, please enjoy the story! My dear Readers!_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter Three: A Closer Look_**

He had been walking around for more than an hour and _fuck,_ he couldn't find even a hair of her.

But considering the size of this place, hiding like _that_ was possible.

Still.

He rounded another corner and was greeted, yet again, by not a single living soul. He grunted again as he briskly walked through the deserted hallways and rounded one corner after another. He seriously didn't understand why he would volunteer for this shit in the first place. But he felt like he just _had to_ do it. But that didn't mean he can't give up. Then again, the pride he had just kept him from throwing this to shit, and forced him to continue his search.

Upon a particular path, he heard a faint sound. Kanda stopped walking and leant a little to find out where the sound came from. It was from the music room, a room that barely had anyone occupying them, for most people here were not nobles and high-classes or even middle-classes; most were workers, or someone devoted to sciences and not arts. As such, there weren't many people who could play an instrument. Some, like a patron of the Art Tiedoll, could play them, but only for a little bit.

The sound he heard, however, was far from being that of a rookie; the careful expressions of each key, each notes, were captivating. He found himself walk at a much slower pace than he usually would, careful not to make too much noise. The back of his mind wished to hear more of it. So as the sound became clearer and clearer, his mind became engrossed in the song, so much that the next thing he knew, he had already opened the door without knocking.

The song didn't stop, and the player who was commanding the piano was not someone he expected. It was Rei.

She noticed him and smiled, her fingers still caressing the keys with precision and gentleness. She laid bare her emotions in the song as the piano shook, only slightly, as her feet stepped on the paddle regularly. He had been dragged (he was kicking and flailing at first, but ultimately grown fond of it) into many classical music concerts by Tiedoll whenever they had time, and that man had actually taught everyone (Daisya included, that idiot) some basic about music, so at least he could point out the flaws and praise the goodness.

And currently, all he could do was basking his ears in the glory of the song she played; Beethoven's _Piano Sonata Opus 57- Apassionata, 3rd Movement._

She looked up again and jerked her head to the side, where there was a small chair used for a second piano player. "Come and take a seat; don't stand like a statue there, Kanda-san."

He quietly and confusedly complied and walked toward the grand piano. He could see that she had recently cleaned it – the bucket of water and a rag was there beside her seat – and probably only had the chance to play it today.

"So," She spoke after she entered a rather light part of the score, where she needed but a few notes played, but still her fingers maneuvered elegantly over the key with great care. "What brings you here, Kanda-san?"

He was stunned for a moment when the music abruptly came to a halt. He blinked stupidly a few times and murmured. "The male doctor said you might not be resting, so he wants me to check you out."

"It's strange coming from you." She commented quietly, her eyes looking at the key strangely. Caressing the key once, Rei continued playing with a bit less gentleness and more ferocity. "Don't worry; I plan to take my time relaxing first since I can't just go to sleep at this time of the day. Then, when I'm tired enough, I'll go to bed."

He frowned. "It's already past two in the morning."

"I usually sleep at four." She said. Then corrected herself, "Wait, I don't know, maybe I sleep at six? Midnight? Not at all?"

"Are you a fucking workaholics, woman?"

"Everyone said that."

The conversation died there and entered a silent phase. But it was neither the awkward kind nor the high-tension one. With soft music filling the gap, it was rather relaxing.

Then, out of the blue, she commented after she has passed a particularly fast segment and went into a repeat. "I didn't strike you to be a connoisseur of art, Kanda-san. Did General Tiedoll teach it to you?"

He waited for a moment before he replied; "He pounded it into my head and no matter how much I don't want it, it kind of got stuck there."

She chuckled and almost slipped at a certain chord. "How very like you."

It wasn't a reprimand, or a judgement of character. Rather, that was just a statement of truth. He glanced at her briefly, arms still crossed as he relaxed into his seat and looked at the piano keys, black and white, that had such tender hands gracing over them.

When she entered the final part, the final cadence in F minor, her eyes had that sorrowful looked that Kanda saw reflected in his own many years ago. She reached the finish, her hands up high in the air after the final note and slowly, she brought it down. Rei stared at the piano in silence for a full minute before turning to look at him and smile. "I'm sorry, but I never stopped in the middle of the song, whoever it was that talked to me. Well, unless it's urgent."

"No need for useless apologies." He grunted out.

"Mhm… I believe I've had enough practice for the day. Thank you for keeping me company, Kanda-san." She said that with a bow. As she got up, her fingers trailed across the keys without making a sound, and rested on the roof of the grand piano. "I believe I'll see you tomorrow."

"Today, you mean." He grumbled, glancing at the pocket watch her had under his shirt. "It's already 2.30 am."

"Ah, that's right." She reflected flatly, closing her eyes for but a moment and opened them again. "You yourself should get some rest as well. It has been a long day, and your burns need time to heal."

"You already know about the Second Exorcist," He pointed out flatly. "Then –"

"I do believe that lessening its burden will keep your body from falling apart, Kanda-san." She cut him off, and for a second Kanda swore he saw something that looked like a demon. A glare of a basilisk, of sort. He involuntarily shivered at the sight. Rei's face loosened up slightly at his stiff posture and smiled. "You don't have to worry. If I were in your shoes, I would have brushed injuries off and called whoever that wants to care for it a fool, as well."

"Huh… You're a strange one." He said. "Everyone reprimanded me – or at least tried to – for being reckless. You're the first who do that _and_ looks from my point of view."

" _Takes their hearts into yours and listen to them, for what you wish is also what they want_ ," She murmured. Upon seeing his confused look, she explained it. "It's a rough translation of a quote from someone I looked up to. To care for and to understand someone, you must look from their perspectives, and not your own. I learn to look from many angles, many view points, and so I come to understand people; the thinking processes and the reasoning for their actions, however irrational those were. And when you understand that, you will better know those people – and so, you will care for them as if they were your own."

"That's just foolish." Kanda responded. "If you do it like that, you'll get involve and all it'll bring is suffering. Sympathize with anyone is idiotic."

"That is true."

Her reply slightly took him aback. He had not expected that. Rather, he had though she would lash out at him, not understanding him this easily. Kanda could only ask; "What?"

"It's the truth. Sympathizing with someone is a fool's task. So we doctors must learn to separate ourselves from our patients. It's called _empathy_. To know, to understand what they're going through, but not on emotional level. If we don't do so, then what will happen if we break from the many losses we encounter in our careers?"

He was at a loss for words at this.

All he saw were nurses and doctors fuzzing over someone under their cares and cried over their deaths. Never had he encountered someone like her before, and every word she said were true. Rational to the very core, that must be the reason he had not seen her lose any composure before.

Well, except for in the mission, where she displayed clear anger.

Realizing that she had ranted his ears out (he vaguely commented in his head that he didn't mind), she bowed apologetically. "My deepest apologies for boring you with moral lectures. _Maybe_ I'll see you _today_ , then, Kanda-san?"

"…Whatever."

"Hmm." She chuckled quietly, and upon his questioning gaze, she only waved her hands and said, "No, I just think that it's something to be expected of you."

And with that, she left, probably off to her sleep.

He didn't bother following her, because he knew that she was ready to drop dead at any second now, and that she was well aware of that fact.

What a strange woman.

* * *

It was already 5.30 pm, three days later, when Kanda saw her again.

And she was a complete mess.

Kanda was just sitting there, in the middle of the cafeteria with not a single soul in the two-table vicinity. Today his mood was fouler than usual, so not even Lavi bothered him. Allen was sent off to an emergency mission with Cross and Lenalee was stuck in the infirmary for another week. So he had the table for himself alone. Well, until he saw Rei ordering the food anyway.

She had her face planed on the counter as she hung her body up by her head alone, and Jerry took that clue. Seemed like she had ordered for Soba this time – she is Japanese, after all – and maybe some tea to wake her up. Kanda only glanced up that one time and resumed occupying himself with the meal before him. He heard absolutely nothing because of the clattering in the cafeteria, as per usual, and he couldn't care less.

When he looked up again, she was with this crow's nest kind of hair with bags under her eyes and a very drool-ly smile. He frowned. "…What?"

"Do you mind… if I join you?" She asked reluctantly. From what he had known her (even if it was but two weeks) she was the socializing type, unlike him.

"…Why?"

"I'd rather eat in silence today," Was her simple reply.

He looked at her strangely, but yielded in the end and moved his tea cup to the side, clearing the space for her. She bowed once in gratefulness and sat down as quietly as she could. Rei didn't bother saying anything more. Kanda was quite curious, since talking with people seemed to be her hobby. This was the first, really. Lavi had looked at them strangely, too, he noted.

As Rei had said, she ate quietly. Her chopsticks and occasional drinking of tea barely emitted any sound, and the silence was, even to someone who loved solitude the most like him, incredibly uncomfortable. He shifted in his seat slightly. She seemed to notice it, and gave him a forced smile – bland and without any emotion, just a smile of courtesy.

It reminded him too much of the sprout, and he growled.

"I can leave if I'm bothering you." She offered, her hand reached for the black suitcase Kanda hadn't registered she was carrying with her.

"…It's fine. Your fake smile reminded me of someone I hate, is all."

"Allen, was it?"

It didn't sound like a question. Rather, it was as if she knew all along that the Beansprout's smile was not genuine and real most of the time. But she had never once mentioned it to anyone. This was the first. Once again, her every demeanor prodded his curiosity, and he asked, "How did you know?"

"Someone who used the same tricks would know each other well. But unlike that one… ah, forgive me. Yet again, I'm ranting out."

He couldn't figure out what she was saying, but decided to keep it that way until the time was right. Besides, it was just not him to prod into people's personal business. He relaxed slightly and took a sip at the tea before him. "So you are admitting that you are forcing yourself."

"Indeed, I am." She affirmed. "I'm more surprised, however, that you be the one to point it out. I figured you and Lavi-san noticed this all along. Komui-san and Allen were too absorbed in their own problems that they couldn't see. As for the rest, I'm not certain. Perhaps Lenalee-san did, but I doubt it."

"Hah," He let out a short breath, a sort of snort. He didn't understand why he would continue to converse with her, but thinking was a bit bothersome, so he let that slide and continued. "Just stop it. It annoys me."

"I apologize, but it's already second nature to me to put up the act in the eyes of the public." She replied with a small bow. Taking a small sip from the cup of tea and frowned slightly, she annotated. "My life has always been about work, to make sure other feel comfortable around me."

"So in a sense, you have to _forget_ yourself." Kanda finished.

"It may be so."

It was a kind of expression Kanda had seen countless of times in the mirror.

She was lost. And probably scared. But she put up the front and ignored it all, to be brave. It reminded him so much of his past that he hated it.

But soon that expression vanished, and a smile returned. Catching herself doing so, she placed a hand over her mouth. But that smile wasn't all that bad, it wasn't forced and faked like the latest one, so he just stared a bit longer than necessary and changed the topic. "So, you're heading out?"

She might not wear an exorcist's uniform, but bringing her weapon with her means something. She gave him an affirmative smile. "Ah, yes, it's a recon mission in Romania. Since finders couldn't get close because there are Akuma patrols, I am to exterminate them and escort the finders."

"That Komui and his weird missions, again."

She didn't comment and took the last bite. Once done, she stood up, very careful not to disturb even a single hair on Kanda's head, and bowed. "I am terribly sorry for making you my company. And thank you."

She really had her ways around his bad spot, Kanda noted, and grumbled once in respond. Before she depart, he asked; "Why did you admit it?"

"Hmm? Ah… I don't know, maybe because I know you wouldn't say a word."

And then she left, leaving him to his thoughts.

* * *

Komui was never one to care for his hide when it comes to the exorcists or, really, anyone under his command. He wants to protect them no matter what it takes. Sometimes, politics just make it so difficult.

Since Rei, despite being new to the Order, is very intelligent and with keen insights on many things, politics and war strategies included, Central seemed to have come for her suggestions many times. She told him about it because most of their courses of actions were shot down by her. She explained to them with the technical aspects, but she disagreed on not that, but the morality of their methods. And, as of late, she found it harder and harder to refuse.

They are trying to work their ways around moral boundaries, each with more insistence than the last. Since Rei's opinions are highly regarded by the Pope (she had personally attended to his medical problems, something about visual loss and many abnormal bodily functions), their works were slowed, but that was becoming rather troublesome. She had complained to him once about their plans to make her help with their _human enhancement programs_.

He was surprised that she could hold them out for this long.

Her favor with some of the Cardinals and the Pope did save their hides, and he reminded himself that he needed to thank her later.

The exact moment that his pondering on the matter was completed, Rei came in just as she had promised with her exorcist uniforms and her Innocence in the ready. She smiled warmly at him as she made her way to his desk. After she sat down, he bowed. "Thank you for taking your time to see me before leaving, Akihiro-kun."

"There is no need. I am an exorcist and thus under your command; order such as this, it's only natural for me to follow." She replied, also bowing. Once he raised his head, she spoke with a more serious tone. "I've been contacted by one of them again yesterday. Luckily for us, they're out of ideas. But if they came up with another one, I don't know if I can fully repel it."

"Your accomplishments thus far are more than enough, Akihiro-kun. Even I couldn't have convinced the Pope and the Cardinals to see things otherwise like this. Thank you again."

"There's no need, Komui-san. It's for the Black Order's best interest, not those hypocritical aristocrats." She said with a hint of resentment in her voice. But then she added, softer than before. "But I do understand their actions. They just forgot that we are also the same species. The discrimination is _real_."

"On that, I'll have to agree with you." Komui chuckled. And, he saw that this was the right time, he asked, "How's the Pope view on you exorcists changed anyways? I've never talked to him before, so I have no idea."

"He's seeing us as a human more than a tool, now." She smiled. "Since I introduced myself first as a doctor rather than an exorcist, it struck him that I had no intention of using him as a buffer between the HQ and Central's _power struggle_. So he decided that my humbleness shouldn't be ignored, and that my opinion will be worthy to listen to."

"It's quite a stroke of luck on our part." He commented.

"Is that so?"

That seemingly innocent question caused him to look up sharply. Her smile didn't match her eyes, and he knew that she might have planned to gain the Pope's favor all along. Only, he knew the Pope was sick way before she joined the order. But he couldn't help that strange feeling he's having –

"Well," upon sensing his discomfort, she said, "Rest assured, that I did not a thing to inflict disease or pain on his person. I am a doctor, after all, and the best interest of a man's health is my greatest wish. Not announcing myself as an exorcist, however, was that I wish to gain favor enough to topple some of the suggestions from Central. It worked better than I had expected – since he found out himself I'm an exorcist, something that wasn't in the plan, and so he came into such a weird conclusion on his own."

"Still, you are a devious strategist, Akihiro-kun."

"I will take that as a compliment, Komui-san."

"Please do, because it is intended to be so."

Silence befell them, and it was one that he wasn't sure if it's an awkward one or a good one. Either way, she picked up the folder on the table and flipped it open, skimming its content quietly.

"Are you okay with this mission?" He asked. He could send Kanda, or maybe Daisya and Marie. But, after seeing reports of her fighting skills, which was estimated to be at a General's level, he couldn't help but feel like it was the best for her to take this mission on alone, for mobility purpose.

"Of course." She affirmed with a small smile. And then, the corner of her mouth twitched slightly. "Oh…"

"What is it? Was there anything you wanted to avoid?"

"Ah, no," She quickly denied and frowned a little at the content. "I just… hmm, never mind, it just reminds me of the many _pleasantries_ I've had in the past."

"I see." He said, getting up to his feet. "My apologies, but I'll have to go now. Best of luck on your journey, Akihiro-kun."

"Thank you, Komui-san. I'll be off now, then."

* * *

Four days later, she returned.

She hadn't elaborated the details of her mission to anyone, so no one knew what had transpired. They only know that she had brought back two separate pieces of Innocences carried by a _New Model_ of the Akuma, and that she had gotten herself quite a bit of nasty wounds.

The wounds and something more were severe enough that the best doctor landed herself in the ICU for acute renal failure and something of the likes.

And, surprising even himself, Kanda actually joined the recently discharged (and still staggering) Lenalee to visit her the next day.

They had never been to the ICU before, partly because it only opened thanks to Rei's influence, which was only two weeks ago at best. And since the unit itself raised survivability of those who were in critical conditions by more than 50 percent, it remained. So far, there were ICU, CCU (Cardiac Care Unit) and RCU (Respiratory Care Unit) operational at the Black Order. The Intensive Care Unit itself was located a floor below the medical wings, and when they got there, it was quite a sight to behold.

The room as a whole was spacious and dim-white in color. The room was then separated into compartments, with glasses doors and walls, monitors of many kinds Kanda didn't care to remember. There were beeping _everywhere_. Some of the patients here had been intubated, while the other only have oxygen cannula or none on their person. Then there were the second segments, where the more critical, need-closer-look ones were rested.

They walked in awkwardly, passing the nurses and the doctors, most of whom were ignoring them. Before they reached the door at the end of the first room, they were greeted by the blonde doctor, who smiled at them and bowed his head slightly. "I was expecting you, Lenalee-san. Not so much about you, thought, Kanda-san. You surprised me."

"It's good to see you, Alexi-san." She smiled, and glared at Kanda until he felt something prickling at his skull. "Kanda."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He brushed it off as usual. "How's she?"

He was supposed to just ask "Where", not "How", but he felt fine about it, so Kanda thought he could let it slip. He earned odd looks from the nurses and Lenalee, but Alexi only gave him a laughter-strained smile. "Well… she's okay."

"Why are you _snickering?_ " Lenalee asked, and Kanda noted the anger and annoyance in her voice.

The doctor picked that up and only waved his hand before looking at the corner furthest from the entrance of the first section. While it's true that the ICU was separated into two rooms, the second section was rather closed off, so Kanda lost interest. His eyes then returned to Alexi. "Well, why are you laughing?"

"Well, she woke up quite a while ago, and I think she's… _high_ on painkillers."

Nearby nurses tried to contain their laughter, too, but to no avail.

"It's best that you see it for yourself."

And so they walked for but a few distance from the center counter to the glass room, where a bird-nest-haired Rei was resting in, a piece of omelet in her mouth. She smiled like a child and waved at them. When they entered the room, she pointed her fork at Alexi. "I'm off the high now, Alexi-san. Thank you _very much_ for _telling everyone_ about it."

"Well, it's one of the few chances I'd have at returning all the pain back at you." He joked, went to check her vitals on the monitors, and then flipped the chart lying at the foot of her bed. "Seems like the raised Creatinine you had earlier was caused by dehydration. I really shouldn't have kicked you into this place in the first place."

"I told you so." She shrugged, stabbing a piece of bacon particularly hard. After a bit of pondering, she said, "You still lack experience. Medicine in itself is both sciences and arts, so there it is."

"You are a decade younger than me, Chief. There isn't a way in hell I'm lacking experience." It seemed as if Alexi pouted there.

"I mean an experience after you are _educated_. The _before_ doesn't count." She shot his excuse down sharply and without mercy. Alexi dropped his head in defeat and went to the side so that he and Lenalee could talk to her properly. She bowed at them. "Thank you for visiting. How are you doing, Lenalee-san, Kanda-san?"

"I'd rather you call me _Lenalee_ without the honorifics, Rei-san." Lenalee said as she approached the bed and handed her a self-made piece of chocolate cake. "I heard you love chocolate, so I bake you some of this. Oh, I'm good, by the way – the wounds no longer hurt, and I can fight like usual. Just staggering a bit from all the lack of exercise. When will I get to be on missions, though?"

"A few days and I'll give you a clear." Rei winked. She then turned her face to Kanda, whose face was strained by hiding emotions he didn't know he had before. Lenalee threw him a dirty look. "And how was your mission?"

"Fine." He said bluntly. "Got scolded by Doctor Edgar a bit, but that's that. Lavi is as stupid as ever, and Marie kept me from killing him."

"Doctor Edgar Chang Martin?" She said. "Ah, I'd love to meet him someday."

"On what occasion, Chief?" Alexi asked curiously.

"He worked on biomechanical engineering and prosthesis. I'd like to see his work sometimes. But enough of that;" She paused and swung her legs off the edge of the bed. Strangely enough, the Russian doctor did nothing to stop her. Once she was standing, she said, "You should go back to rounding, Alexi-san. I saw it; you hadn't even gotten past the third bed. And there are twenty here! _Twenty! Minus the Critical Care next door!_ "

Upon that realization, Alexi paled considerably. He gulped, nodded, and left the three of them in her room. Kanda looked at Alexi's retreating back until he was out of sight before turning to her. "What was that about?"

"I just shooed him back to work, is all." She said with a light-hearted laughter and went to stand at the door, head leaning against the glass. "Enough about me, I've received too much attentions as of late."

"I can see that." Kanda grunted. "What happened in your mission?"

Her eyes widen slightly in surprised, but she was otherwise well-composed. She straightened herself and gave a weary sigh. "I supposed I'll leave you some details. Just know that the information about there being an Innocence was inaccurate, and I landed myself, _yet again_ , in another ambush."

"I'm glad you're okay." Lenalee exhaled in relieve.

Rei smiled. "True, that. Aside from that, I've met something – an Akuma unlike what we've seen before. It's as strong as a Level Four, but if you take into account only its close-quarter combat abilities, it might so surpassed the the other Level Fours by quite a margin."

"What!?" The two exorcists exclaimed in unison.

"I have footage on it, and I've killed it. But still, we don't know what these things are or how any there are. After I'm discharged, everyone returns from their missions, and the world state is stable, Komui-san is going to hold a meeting." She said calmly and glanced at the suitcase sitting at the corner of the room. "Maybe it's time I bring this up a notch…"

"Hm?" Lenalee hummed, seemingly missed her words. But Kanda heard it.

However, Rei only beamed at both of them without giving an explanation and put on her slippers. After throwing the white jacket over her shoulder, she walked to the door. "I'm going to get some fresh air. Being injured and bed-bound sure isn't enjoyable, not when you heard yells at three in the morning."

"Let us join you." Lenalee offered. Kanda opened his mouth in an attempt to refuse, but he got elbowed so hard that he doubled over. Damn women and their abominable strength. "Right, Kanda?"

"Fine, fine." He grumbled. The other Japanese seemed to catch that exchange, but she said nothing and led the way.

They walked out of the room, and Rei stopped to greet the nurses and other doctors rounding the ICU briefly before exiting and heading to the third floor, where there are gardens grown by a few (including Kanda, but he ain't going to admit that in his life) who were interested in flowers.

"Wow." Lenalee breathed, amazed by the sight. Kanda who had visited this place often didn't show anything on his face. Rei must've visited here once or twice before, since she walked in straight line to the bench near the pool and stretched her arms over her head. Lenalee joined her, saying, "I have no idea a place like this exist."

"I found this place a few days after joining." She said softly, but oh those eyes, they were looking straight at _him_. Mischievously. Dammit. But, to his surprise, she didn't remark about his love for gardening and just sat down at the left edge of the wooden chair, winching slightly as she moved in a particular way and exclaimed. "Ouch!"

"Are you sure you're going to be fine, Rei-san?" Lenalee asked, concerned.

"Yes, it's not the wound that's hurting. I think I tear my back muscle." She murmured the last sentence mostly to herself. And as quickly as any other time, her expression instantly changed. "It's too bad there's rain recently. The glasses and soils are damped and the rock path over there is slippery. Well, I guess I'll have to settle here instead."

Lenalee was about to say something, but her golem buzzed. _"Lenalee!"_

"Brother?" She asked, in conformation, most likely. "What is it?"

 _"_ _I'm sorry, I know you're just discharged, but we have a mission. You and Miranda are heading for Madagascar."_ Komui said apologetically as he briefed the mission in two sentences. Then, _"Rei-san, can you give her a go?"_

"Is this emergency?" She asked.

 _"_ _Yes."_

Lenalee looked at her, and she just shrugged. "Sure. The few days I said were meant to be some advising and check-ups. I believe you'll be fine."

Lenalee bowed at Rei in apology. "I'm sorry, Rei-san."

"No need, no need." She said and waved her hand dismissively. "Thank you for walking with me here. Oh, Kanda-san, you can go too, if you like. I know you are not the socializing type."

Lenalee threw him another glare and went for the exit. He could just wait for a few seconds more and went out himself, but somehow, he felt like ditching the woman before him like this is… _wrong_. Huh. This is an unusual instance. He had never before care about anyone's feelings, so why?

He stopped thinking, since it made his heard hurt, and said. "I don't have any better things to do at the moment."

"That's surprising." She said with a grin and scooted over for a bit, and wincing again at the end. "Ouch, not again. Sit here if you like, Kanda-san."

"Stop adding the honorific, woman. You're the same age as me." He snapped and sat down, arms crossed and legs stretched.

"If you start calling me by my name, I'll start dropping the _–san_ , Kanda- _san_."

"Woman."

She chuckled. She didn't even intend to continue the useless bickers like the Beansprout would, and instead looked at the fountain and the lotuses inside the pond. "Very well. It doesn't really matter what you call me as long as we can remain co-workers."

He stared at her a while longer and frowned. "You're strange."

"That's the twelfth time since I came here that you defined me with that word, Kanda-san." She stated, a smile still everlasting on her face as she leant back against the backrest and looked at her right hand, covered in bandages that had a bit of blood and serum oozing out. "Can you tell me what?"

"Just… _everything_ about you is abnormal." He responded, eyes never once left her face despite Rei continuing to look at her hand. She seemed to realize he was looking, but she didn't take any action concerning it. "For a nineteen-year-old not associating with Bookmen, you're too well-educated. You get along with _everyone_ and _loved_ by everyone. You look at things from _every_ angle."

 _And you're the only one that has never ticked me off._ That last part, he left only in his head. Lenalee actually annoyed him with her over-caring. Marie was second closet; angering him only once when he cried over a loss Finder – who was his close friend – but this woman… she never said anything that he didn't like. She just skirted around things he found annoying and went straight for where he was more prone to answering instead.

She turned to look at him, her eyes a bit… _sad?_ "Loved by everyone? Please, Kanda-san. If that's the case…" She cut herself off, her face fell further as something struck her. She closed her eyes and sighed. "My apologies, that weren't the proper response. I'm educated because I had good parents, friends and mentors. I look at many aspects because I was taught not to judge. And I get along with everyone because I know to look for signs when people are uncomfortable in certain subjects."

He ignored the sad-expression and the way she cut herself off, instead concentrating on her _reasoning_. He didn't doubt the first two, but the last one was a bit shady. "Such as?"

"Such as the jaw clenching you do when I talked about Second's project."

His jaws twitched slightly. When he realized the tensing masticator muscles, he forcibly relaxed them. He averted his eyes. "…I see."

"It's fine if you're uncomfortable talking." She offered, smiling blanking at him and turned her eyes to the fountain. "I understand you're not the type to share your stories with others. You can leave, if you'd like. I can walk back to the ICU on my own."

"It's fine." He muttered. "I asked you out of curiosity, and I got my answers. It's not like you're the one striking the conversation."

Silence came over them, but it wasn't an uncomfortable one. Rather, it's relaxing and calming. Rei had already closed her eyes and relaxed with her head facing upward while he became a _fucking stalker_ and looked at her. He found this… very strange, very _out-worldly_ , but Kanda was oddly content.

Suddenly, she leant her head onto his shoulder.

"Hey, hey, woman, what –"

And he realized she had fallen asleep.

If it had been another people, even if it's Lenalee, he would've shoved them off his shoulder until their heads hit the ground. But she was sleeping so soundly, the days and weeks of exerting herself catching up as her body shut itself down to rest. Her breathing was steady and soft, blowing onto his shoulder like a breeze in early morning.

And so he sighed, defeated and sat still, waiting until the moment she wake up.

* * *

When she does, it was well over three hours.

During that moment, the ICU called them, and he informed them that she's asleep (leaving the details for imagination, too, mind you). Somehow, they realized it was fine, so they left them in peace. He silently thanked her, because he knew for a fact that this woman beside him was respected, loved and _feared_ by the medical staffs. Even the head nurse herself wouldn't dare come looking for their chief without permission.

When she woke up, she only shifted slightly (he silently thanked her again for not being a violent wake-up type, unlike a certain _woman_ – Lenalee kicked him a few times when she does) and opened her eyes, sleepiness evident in both her body and voice as she glanced up and half-yawned. In that instant, she flushed red, but was too tired to break away from him.

"K-k-k-kanda-san! How – how long –"

"It's fine." He murmured, rubbing his stiffed shoulder weakly. "Three hours. The ICU called about two hours ago. They said it's fine. But you should head back there soon."

"Ah… right, right." She replied, not really that concentrated. It was the first time she's lost her cool, Kanda noted. "Um, so I'll just go now. You don't have to walk me there, so… goodnight?"

He stared at her a bit longer, and before he knew it, he was carrying her in his arms, bridal style.

And she was flustering so much it was hilarious.

"K-Kanda-san! What – I can walk for myself!"

"Obviously you can't. You don't even have the strength to hit me, woman." He remarked as her rather weak slaps hit his cheek. And she hit as hard as a fly bolting into his face at full speed.

She opened her mouth, attempting to retort back, but somehow she just closed it, gave up and settled on his chest, face still red from embarrassment. "If Lavi-san sees this, he's going to bully me for the rest of my day."

"It's already late, and the path to the ICU is close to desert." He said. "I'll let you walk from the front door in."

She tensed for a moment there and looked up. He didn't know what kind of expression or eyes he had then, but she relaxed and rested her head tiredly against his shoulder, her arms curled at her chest and trying her hardest not to touch him anywhere else.

When he began to walk, he heard her said, soft as the wind. "Thank you."

This time, it wasn't on impulse, but his own violation that he answered;

"You're welcome… _Akihiro_."

* * *

 ** _Just so you know, many doctors I know is THIS good. Maybe even better. Take one I met in music club, for example; he's the head of a department, the best man there is to his field, an innovator, and an extraordinary musician. He played Violin so flawlessly I thought he was a music teacher, lolz. He's not._**

 ** _Well, that aside, please drop a Review! Comment! Constructive Critique! Anythinggg! :D_**

 ** _I'll be seeing you guys in a few weeks! Happy Reading!_**


	4. Chapter 4

**_FINALLY, THE TESTS ARE DONE._**

 ** _But Jeezus fucking christ now I got a loop of study for two weeks-tests-repeat for two whole months XP, also have that other story where I've been postponing the update for a month now..._**

 ** _Anyways, this is more or less a filler chapter-ish. :v Please R and R and enjoy anyway! :D_**

 ** _TYPOs and FLUFFs alerts, ladies and gents!_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter Four: The Journey_**

A week later, every exorcist received detailed reports of the new model.

Because of the increased activity, holding such a long meeting with every exorcist became next to impossible. Instead, only Rei, the head of each branch of the Order, and Lvellie attended the meeting while the others went to their missions. It took them ten hours, from what Allen had heard from Cross, and the air was so intense Bak break down and went to vomit for an hour straight.

The New Model, as they've called it, seemed to be Level Four evolving and specializing in one-on-one combat rather than the multiple front fighters like the usual Akumas. She only encountered one, so there's no guarantee, but they had assumed that its inability to fly caused other parts of its body to evolve beyond the usual boundaries, and made it a handful, even for those who's at a General Level – Rei's level.

She had scored herself quite some injuries, and that is saying something.

Right now, Allen was with Daisya and General Cross to scout out an area in Southern Berlin. There was a "Madhouse" (mental hospital, if you will) there that seemed to be infested with strange beings that looked like humans (well, _decaying_ humans) crawling on all four. It seemed like they were dubbed by the locals as _ghouls_.

"Idiot apprentice."

The voice of his master snapped him out of his thoughts, and he turned to the red-haired man silently. They were resting inside a rundown inn with Daisya outside, gathering Intel. He stopped pulling at Tim's cheek and put the golem on his head before answering bluntly. "What?"

"Damn, you're all grown up and out of that mask now, are ya?" Cross said as he drew a long puff of cigarette before continuing. "Well, since we had some time, I want to know about certain things."

"Such as?"

"That new girl, Akihiro." Cross crossed his legs and rested his arm on the table, the cigarette in between his fingers. Even if Cross was facing him with his masked side of the face, Allen could still see the frown on it. "I heard she was sent into _Sokalo's care_ , of all things."

"Are you worried?" Allen asked absently. He had heard from Kanda (he's not even sure how that guy, who seemed oblivious to everything that's not related to him, knows this) that Komui decided to make her Sokalo's apprentice. As they spoke, the teacher and the student were sent together on a large-scale extermination mission in Prussia. "Of course you are, you womanizer."

"I don't look at her that way, unlike Lenalee-chan or Anita." Cross grunted under his breath. Allen looked at him skeptically. "I'm telling you the fucking truth, you idiotic piece of shit. Anyway, I'm asking because I'm _genuinely_ and, no ill-will intended, worried about her. She's with the damn maniac!"

"You said as if you aren't one." Allen muttered.

"Stop that, you brat!" He snarled back at his apprentice before settling down, drawing yet another breath of smoke. "I had a healthy conversation with her a few days ago, and she seemed like the type smart enough to follow my game. I like that."

"Like her as a woman?"

"As a fellow scientist." Cross corrected him, his only visible eye averting to the outside street buzzling with people. He relaxed back into his seat as his brow furrowed once more. "…She's gorgeous, yes I know that. But a woman _that_ smart and witty? I ain't ruining my friendly relationship with her by wooing or trying to strike her like Lavi would. Trust me when I say I know my place."

"I don't." Allen stated almost matter-of-factly, his silver-gray eyes locked into his master's hazel one. They stared a moment longer before Allen relented. "I supposed you're not lying. If you did try to woo her, I think your shoulder or your teeth might not be as healthy as it is now."

"Yeah." Cross affirmed. "That's about right. Anyway, have you heard anything about their mission?"

"I talked with Komui-san a few hours ago. It seemed General Sokalo took quite a liking in her no-bullshit personality and her vast knowledge –" at this he paused. He knew it was possible, but saying it was weird "– especially in the field of terrorizing and torturing the enemies."

"It doesn't suit her personality." Cross murmured. Allen silently agreed, but he supposed one of Rei's many specialties is that she knew how to get on people's good side very quickly. "But I supposed it's a given. She seemed more or less as educated as the old Bookman himself."

"You think?" He was surprised that her meekly 19-years of experience was being compared to a man neared his 90s.

Cross eyed him with such pity Allen wanted to puke. "Yes. I have had a talk with her, remember? I know when I'm talking with a smart one. It's all the more obvious when I'm talking to a genius. She's at that level."

"Somehow, I'm not surprised." The younger male said quietly.

"Indeed. She gives off a strong vibe of being someone you'd only found once in a century. But enough of all these shits. Had you heard anything else? Anything _interesting_ about her?"

"Aside from Sokalo liking her? No, _sir_ , none at all."

"Shame. Well, I guess I can catch up later." He remarked as he stood up from his seat. "Alright, suit up, Allen. Daisya's returning, and from the look on his face, I don't think this is going to be a pleasant journey."

And so he did.

* * *

It took them two whole damn weeks to clear that madhouse, but they did it.

They weren't injured, well… not _physically._ And as it turned out, Cross hates _and_ fears _ghosts,_ of all things. Allen couldn't laugh at such things, however, since he himself was scared to the point he almost piss his own pants when an eyelid-less ghost popped up and grabbed him from behind. Just thinking about it gave him _chills_.

He hadn't met Akihiro in the medical ward, however; it's said that she was paired with Kanda to Nepal about a week and a few days before he arrived back at the Order, and was due back in a few days. He glanced at the clock; it's 4am, no wonder why even the most energetic one (like Daisya) was so damned tired he didn't bother walking back to his room and just opted for lying down at the first-aid station and slept there instead. Allen wished he could do that, but he needed back into his room.

Timcanpy fluttered behind him, leaving an ample distance as it sensed its master's weariness. He silently thanked the golem for being smart. His eyes were already half shut when he reached Komui's office. With an equally tired smile on his face, his superior greeted him and pointed at the sofa. At this point, had it not been for Timcanpy nudging his cheek, he might've just fallen asleep right there.

"Thank you for your hard work." Komui said gently and took from his hands the written report he finished while on the carriage. There were bumps once in a while, but it's still legible. "Are you sure you don't want to drop by the Psych ward first? The doctors there can help you if you have Acute Stress Disorder."

"I only got jump-scared. There's no lingering effect." He waved off the concern in Komui's question and rested his head against the seat. "Ah, how long has it been now since Rei-san joins the Order?"

"I'd think it's well over a month now." Komui replied automatically. "Hm, and I think Hevlaska's mentioned that someone had exceed the Critical Point…"

"You mean it's _her_?"

"It's a possibility." He said. "I planned to call the non-General exorcists to have a test when they're all here. I think it's going to be a bit hard for Akihiro-kun, though, since I've got a report about something appearing not too far from where she and Kanda were working."

He was more interested in that than the mission itself, and he felt like knocking his head upside-down. With an inward groan, he said. "Is Kanda okay with this, though? I've never seen him get along with _anyone_."

"They seemed a bit jittery around each other, but otherwise they're perfectly fine. This is the second time since Marie that Kanda-kun didn't openly oppose the idea. I thought he liked it, somehow." Komui stated, amused at both the change in the younger male in front of him – who was gawking like an idiot Kanda said he was – and the man who he thought was heartless.

After a few minutes of letting it all sank in, Allen gave up trying to wrap his head around it and asked the next thing in his mind. "And what do you mean something appearing? Is it not an Akuma?"

"No." Komui shook his head and handed him the printed-out record from the Finders' golem. It was hazy at best, but he could make out something blood-red with many limbs, three eyes that seemed to merge together in one side of the head, and split-up lower jaws decorated with teeth. "This is what they mean. I have already informed Akihiro-kun about it. Even though I don't like the idea, she's going to solo this mission."

"Wait, why?" He said, incredulous. "Can't you just get Kanda to go with her?"

"They retrieved an unexpected Innocence, so she's kicking Kanda-kun back here. She promised me she'll be alright," Komui said with a lingering smile on his face. Allen didn't understand, at first, but he did with the next sentence. "She never lies, not once since she got here. Besides, I've already confirmed this with General Sokalo; she's deemed his equal. So I think she'll be fine, for the most part."

Even if he understood Komui's reason, it didn't mean he agreed with it. He wanted very much to openly oppose his decision, but if she said she'd be fine, Allen had no choice but to take her words for it. Really, between Rei and the Earl, he thought he was afraid of her more.

"Aside from that, good work on clearing the madhouse, _again_." He laughed heartily and relaxed back on his seat, his eyes concealed by the reflection from his glasses. "You've earned your rest, by the way. But please do check in with the medical ward, as per usual. You wouldn't want to incite her wrath, now."

"Just thinking about that gives me chills." Allen remarked, rubbing at his arms absently as he remembered the time her boot was introduced in such a way he couldn't open his mouth for a whole day. "I'll check in now, I think –"

"Could I have a moment of your time, Master Walker, Supervisor Komui?"

They were interrupted by a finder, whose hair color was sandy-brown and eyes light blue. He bowed politely and waited for their response. Komui nodded and took a sip from his cup of coffee. "You can. What can we help you with…?"

"Aiden, sir. My name is Aiden." He introduced himself and bowed again. Once he rose up, he continued. "I am here on behalf of Mis –" He hesitated there for a bit, and bit back whatever he was going to say and changed it mid-way "– my apologies. I'm on behalf of Miss Akihiro's research team."

Allen hadn't known there's a research team. Did she plan on reforming the whole church? Even for her, that was a tall order. Komui seemed to have known of this and smiled. "Yes, indeed. What can I help you?"

"We'd like to examine Master Walker's Innocence." Aiden explained. "Miss Akihiro had succeeded in mapping the basic functions of Equipment-type Innocence, with the help of Science Department, of course, and now would like to observe the parasitic type and the Crystal type. We need but a tiny sample of your Innocence for the first phase, Master Walker."

Komui looked at him. "What will you do, Allen?"

"Of course I'll cooperate." He said with a smile. It's not like Rei's going to cut him open or tie him up anyway. She's not like those hypocrites in Central. "But what about second phase?"

"We might need you to fight with your Innocence while having a few probes in your body and your Innocence, master Walker. But please don't worry about that. For now, I'd like for a tissue sample."

"But I'm surprised you've progressed this far in but a few weeks." Komui remarked sharply. "She had quite an eye for subordinates, isn't she?"

"Indeed she is." Aiden replied with a smile. "Indeed she is."

"Can I ask you one thing, Aiden-san?" Allen said at last, his eyes glued to the man before him. He ruffled his sandy hair – probably out of habit – as he smiled and nodded.

"Of course."

"How come a research team member becomes a finder?"

"Oh, that." He said knowingly and smiled. It seemed the question took him back to his older memories. "Long story short is that she needed information both in the lab and in the field. She doesn't like it, of course, but she couldn't just ignored her work as an exorcist and observe all of you. So some of us have to do it instead."

"I see." He was satisfied with the answer, and nodded.

"So I'll see you after you're done examining your body?" Aiden suggested.

"Yes, of course."

"I'll pick you up at the ward, then."

"Please do."

He relaxed back into his seat and breathed deeply. He can think of anything else – if there was anything to think about – later. For now, he just need to finish the research and the health care, and then he can just go to sleep.

* * *

 _Ten days ago_.

"I'm surprised you're willing to go on a mission with me." Kanda said once they were out of Komui's earshot. Rei jumped slightly at his comment and blushed.

"It's not like I'm _that_ embarrassed. But _please_ ," She emphasized on that last word a bit too hard as she lead the way to the Ark room. "Don't let a word about that slip. Besides, the mission with General Sokalo wasn't tiring. It's actually pretty fun."

"It's not just you who's going to get picked against." He said gruffly and stood by her side, waiting for the Ark Gate to open. Strangely enough, he didn't really mind having her for a company. Much like Marie, she knew her ways around his mood. "And what's with the mission with the General?"

"If you have a bit of knowledge about torture or history about war in general, it's pretty fun being around him." She remarked lightly with a chuckle. "Despite his look, he's pretty well-versed in history. It's kind of a good thing to find someone with the same taste in books."

"I don't know you were into tortures, Akihiro." He stated. Really, she didn't strike him as the type to like _those kinds of things_. At all.

"I've got a bit more surprises up my sleeves, don't worry." She wore the faint smile on her lips as she spoke. She then threw her suitcase up in the air and caught it with both hands, tapping at the handle lightly. "But I'm more taken aback by you. I don't think you're the type to start conversations; useless ones, at that."

"Hah." He snorted, but he supposed it was true. This probably was the first time he prolonged a conversation on his own accord. He frowned slightly, but did nothing else and instead _continued_. "Enough of that. How's your wounds?"

"It's long since healed, don't worry."

It didn't appear she was lying.

"How, though? You aren't a Second, so –"

She silenced him with a finger to his lips. _His_ lips. He froze and his eyes darted around frantically, but thankfully there was not a soul but a few scientists who worked at the gate. He backed away reluctantly in time to see her smile, one with so much denial behind it. She merely looked to the side and said nothing until the Ark gate popped up from the ground.

She drew that same finger up to her lips and winked, the brightness of her grin returned just as quickly as it had faded before. "It's a secret."

So Kanda decided to leave it at that, for now, and went after her into the Ark.

They traveled to the gate in Northern India first. Since there were few Akumas activities in Nepal, setting up the gate was deemed unnecessary. The sun was _very_ scorching, Kanda noted, but Rei didn't seem bothered much by it. He was surprised, but her exorcist uniform was sleeveless, so maybe it was kind of understandable. From there, it seemed they have to travel by old-school carriage to Kathmandu first then took a walk from there to their destination.

They met a finder there, who introduced herself as Maria – he remembered that name when Rei was tending to his wounds back in _Chita_ – and she led then through the streets of India up north until the prepared carriage was in sight. They got into the wooden cart with but thin steel frames and a large white fabric stretched through it to shield them from the sun. It wasn't like he hadn't been to worse, but he preferred the newer version.

And from there it would take them around five or six days (with the horses _galloping_ , not _throttling_ , mind you) to reach Kathmandu, given them little time to rest during the journey. Rei seemed to have prepared well, since she took out a notebook from her backpack (yes, she did use backpack instead of your usual cases, which was new to him) and put on her frameless glasses.

"Are you short-sighted?" He asked and crossed his arms as the carriage started to move. With this obnoxious speed and the fucking hole-ridden roads, he was really surprised how she wasn't having any vehicle sickness. In fact, it looked like she was _enjoying_ it.

"Not quite, it's… well, these glasses serve only for my eyes to not tire out too quickly. I usually spent _hours_ on end reading daily. Can't have my eyes failing me now, can I?" She explained with a smile, her eyes not leaving the book as she continued to write something down at an incredible speed.

"Aren't you bound to vomit doing that _on this cart?_ "

"I've had worse."

He couldn't imagine the _worse_ she mentioned.

"So," He began again, relaxing only to tense up again as the cart flew past a large hole and landed extra hard. He cursed under his breath and resumed his question. "What do you said back then?"

"What _then_?" She asked back. "There are _many_ "then", mind you."

"Back in Russia. Chita. When you said _IXA_ had a certain gimmick." He replied and glanced at the suit case lying down on its side beside her leg. Her eyes followed his gaze, and a small _Ah_ escaped her.

"The blade… isn't what it seemed." She was reluctant, he could tell that much. He should stop asking right here, but – "It's fine, I'm just trying to find the right word to describe it, is all."

"Don't play bullshit on my ass, woman." He snarled. She was clearly _anxious_ trying to mention her Innocence's power. "It's fine. You don't have to tell me."

"I'm not playing bullshit on you, Kanda." She said coldly. Ah, so fury caused her to drop the suffix. That was good to know. Rei snapped her book shut and took off her glasses a bit too swiftly. But then her face softened as she smiled. "But I appreciate your concern. It truly is fine. It's just hard to find the right word to describe… this… _thing_ my blade turns into."

"It's not like there's a timer over your head or anything." Kanda snorted and leant back, this time hyperaware of the road. If he got caught off-guard like that again, he's going to vomit. "Take your time."

"Right," She mumbled and reopened her notebook. "It's actually easier to show you, but I can't go and give the Earl and his minions an idea about it. After all, it's called a _Trump Card_ for _something_."

"Just take your fucking time, woman." He gnarled. "Really, you're just like Lenalee. Babbling nonsense when you're nervous."

"I'm _not_ nervous!" She denied. "I'm just thinking _out loud!_ "

"Yeah, like I'm going to believe you."

She pouted.

It was kinda cute.

And Kanda slapped his face for that.

She looked at him oddly and shrugged to herself. After a while of silence and a bump later, she finally figured out a way to explain and said. "The blade of _IXA_ is like a coiled steel whip, of sort. Four, actually, since the elongated form of _IXA_ itself can split into four parts and attack four targets simultaneously. That said, its power is at its peak at first strike, since the coil released so much tension that the blade's velocity went as fast as a bullet."

"So it's a kind of a flexible sword. Get it." He nodded. It sounded like a useful gimmick. "And I supposed the speed avoided any notice, right? I'd say you've used it many times, but no one has figured it out yet."

"Indeed." She winked. "You're quite fast catching on. I had originally mistaken you for an airhead, Kanda-san."

Damn it with the suffix. And what the fuck's with the airhead comment? "And what the fuck's with the airhead comment?"

She laughed airily and gave him a rare genuine smile. If he didn't have any better control of himself, he might've just blushed right there. Her smile was there but for a moment before it turned into that mask of hers. "Well, I don't know. You don't look like the type to use your head that much. More like a _go with the instinct_ kind of person, you are."

"Why am I feeling like you're sneak-assaulting my intelligence?"

"Why would you ever think of it that way?" She retorted back with a question – a method he's weak against, really – and gave him a mischievous smile. With that huge grin still on her face, she teased. "Oh, I know it, you're _admitting_ that you're mentally _retarded_ , aren't you, Kanda-san?"

"I said nothing of sort!" He denied. "Stop twisting my words, woman!"

She laughed. "Ahaha! I know teasing you was fun! Lavi-san was right!"

So she was associating with that idiot – that explained why she's picking a fight with him. Damn Lavi and his contagious idiocy. He's going to kill that bastard. Kanda crossed his arms and stopped his argument. If it was Lavi, he would just use Mugen to threaten him, but he couldn't do that to Rei. Not because she was stronger than him, but…

…but _why?_ He didn't even understand that himself.

Just like that, most of the first day was spent bantering with her, with the last few hours before they make a stop being Rei focusing on writing in her notebooks. Once they reached a small village by the border at the dawn of the second day, they stopped to let the horse rested. Kanda and Rei went into the village to get some non-paste food, since this will probably be their only stop before they traveled to Kathmandu.

The market was brimming with people, half of them shouting into the crowds and advertising their goods while the other half looked at the presenting items and other supplies. He hated people, but for once he'd like something not _tasteless_ , and since he had close to zero knowledge on food, he let Rei took the reign and led him.

She was surprisingly non-woman like. Most ladies would slowly looked at the stores by the roads, one by one, and be picky as fuck. She seemed to have already decided what she wanted, and was making a bee-line for it. He silently followed her as she parted the crowds too gently for his taste (he'd just shove each and every last one of these slow walkers into the gutter) with her hands.

"Chiya tea of Nepal is pretty distinct, but it might be too sweet for your taste since it contained sugar." She said, walking past the beverage counter and into the restaurant. It was, as expected from a border settlement, quite run-down, but it was decent enough for his taste. "Hmm… maybe some alcohol. _Raksi_ or _Jard?_ "

"I don't even know what the fuck those were." He grimaced. "Just order what you think I'm going to eat."

"Well, all you eat are Soba and Tea." She said and turned to the waiter. And at this, he didn't expect her to speak _Sanskrit_ , of all things. _"[May I get a cup of Chiya, and a tankard of Jard?]"_

The waiter nodded at her. He didn't understand what they were talking about, naturally. " _[Certainly. What would you like for your meals?]"_

 _"_ _[What do you serve? I'm not acquainted to southern Nepal. Apology.]"_ She said with a sheepish smile and bowed her head. He's going to assume she was apologizing for something.

" _[No need to apologize. We have almost every cuisine in Nepal at your service here.]"_ The waiter said with a smile. Her mouth morphed into an 'O', and then she smiled brightly like a child. Kanda settled for resting his face on his palm and watching her silently as she bartered with the waiter.

" _[That's incredible! Well, let's see… a simple Newali Choila for me, makes the spice double. For the pretty boy over here… Dhindo Thali, if you will.]"_

 _"_ _[It will be done.]"_ The waiter bowed after he wrote something down. And with a smile, he spoke in thickly-accented English. "Thank you."

She nodded at him with a smile as he walked off to the counter, probably to tell the cooks their orders. Once he was out of the earshot, Kanda asked. "How many languages can you actually speak?"

"Six?" She replied almost too instantaneously. "I had too much free time on my hands, so… English, Japanese, Sanskrit, Russian, German… and I think a bit of Chinese? I don't know about the rest but… I can make do with _Arabian_ and some _Spanish_."

"Just what the fuck happened to your childhood?" He asked. "Your mom and pops dropped you into pits of books as punishments or something?"

"No, I did that on my own violation." She said, waving her fork.

"Is there anything you _can't_ do?"

At this comment, her face slightly fell, and her reply was reluctant.

"Controlling myself, most likely."

He frowned at that comment, but the arrival of the meal broke the talk into a thousand pieces. He never got the chance to ask her about it after.

* * *

They arrived in Kathmandu by nightfall of the sixth day.

During that time, the banters happened as it should. He didn't pursue that comment back in the border restaurant, because Kanda _feared_ that it might triggered something.

When they arrived, they worked their way to their inn, at the northernmost area of the city. It was luxurious and filled with the scent of _Nepal_ ; spices, dried trees, flowers and holy water. They were to take a night's rest there first, and a few days to find out about the Akuma hideouts. Incidentally enough, there was only one room available since it was high-season of the year.

So, unluckily for him, he's going to share a room with her.

Not that he mind it.

And with that dirty thought, Kanda gave himself a slap. He saw Rei peaked from the bathroom, a toothbrush stuck out of her mouth, and like all the other times he had gave himself a punishment, she raised an eyebrow questioningly before being satisfied by her own conclusions and went back to what she was doing. He silently thanked her non-of-my-business personality and took of his coat, draping it over the coat rack, shook off his boots, and literally leapt into the luxurious bed.

The five-day-straight ride with little time for proper sleep had made him dead-tired, and he wanted very much to just fall asleep right there. But then again, he wasn't that kind of man who would allow a woman to sleep on a chair or on the floor. Sighing, he rolled off the bed and headed for the nearby beach chair-like sofa. It worked pretty well as a bed, so he might settle for this.

His muscles were sore all over from the rides, because he wasn't used to that much speed (especially since it was coupled with the hazardous roads), and because he had been doing quite a lot of mission lately and hadn't given his body enough time to rest. He attempted to stretch his back only for a certain spot to taut and gave him a jolt of pain up his spine. He hissed and just fell back onto the chair. Well, he just had to make do with this until he healed.

Before he could do anything else, the bathroom door creaked open again, and Rei stepped out of it with steams following her. She changed into an atypical night gown for a woman; instead of light silk clothing like Lenalee, she wore simple button-upped white shirt and dark gray pants. He just realized she does love dressing like a man, for some reason.

She walked out bare-foot, a towel draped over her shoulder as she absently scrubbed her soaked hair while fetching something from her backpack. Kanda admit that he was _watching_ but oh _fuck it_ , it wasn't like anyone was going to be here and tease him for it.

What she fished out was a small steel box. She snapped it open and took out a single, spherical black pill. After giving it a painful look, she snapped it into her mouth and swallowed it before turning to look at him. Realizing that he must have been staring pretty obviously, he looked to the side.

All she did was giving him a dead-beat smile, and nothing more.

That was actually the first time since their mission that he'd seen her showing any sigh of being dead-tired. So he asked. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I'm fine, Kanda-san." She said, exhaustion hanging at the edge of her voice. She walked (wobbly) and sat at the table, facing the mirror and quietly dried her hair by rubbing at them with the now half-soaked towel. After a while like that, she continued. "I'll probably sleep early tonight."

"Suit yourself." He said dismissively. Seemed like she needed it.

And before he knew it, she had already drifted into a long, comfortable slumber.

* * *

Someone screamed.

It was dead in the night, and he was jolted awake by a scream; desperate and scared. His hand instinctively found Mugen resting beside him and, with one fluid motion, unsheathed the blade. His eyes frantically searched the room and soon found the source of the cry of despair.

Rei was sitting up on the bed, drenched in sweat. She was heaving heavily with one hand clutched at the front of her shirt. He slowly sheathed his sword and put it away, quietly watching Rei calmed down and returned her fervent breathing to a more natural pace. Her face was pale, and her eyes were dark – darker than even his, he thought. It took her a few more minutes to calm her nerves completely, and that's when she registered him standing.

She stared at him for a second before quickly bowing her head. "I – I'm sorry, Kanda-san! I woke you up –"

He put up a hand to silence her, and she did, her gaze avert from his. Kanda sat down without uttering a word and waited until she did something; talking or going back to sleep, whichever would work just fine. Instead, she remained upright, brows furrowed and fist clenched.

After a while, he said; "What happened?"

She opened her mouth, as if to say something, but closed it and inclined her head further. It was when Kanda was almost annoyed to the point of yelling at her did she reply. "It's… nothing. I'm sorry I've bothered you. It's just a bad dream."

He knew she wasn't like Lenalee, who think of things too seriously. That girl had a nightmare of her own, but not enough to really bring her to scream her lungs out like Rei did. It must be something more. He shifted in his seat slightly and adjusting his legs so that he was a bit more comfortable facing her. "That can't just be _nothing,_ is it? Spit it out."

She gave him that damn smile again, so forced and painful and _tired_. She shook her head once and pulled the cover up to her chest. "It's alright, Kanda-san. I believe I won't do that again… at least until morning."

"Spit it out." He spat, half-expecting her to punch him or something. Instead she put her hands down and stared at them. Only then did he notice her hands were shaking and paled from all the clenching. Her breathing was ragged, Kanda noted dully. Just what in the world was she dreaming about?

"Just a terrible, terrible past of mine." She murmured through clattering teeth and fear-ridden voice. "I've done terrible things, things that I can't correct no matter how much I tried. And then… the _red-eyed …"_

 _"_ What red-eyed?"

It seemed that name was something she let slipped, and when he repeated it, she instantly clapped a hand over her mouth with her eyes wide open. And then, after a while, she relaxed and put her hand away. "…It's just a name. Please forget I ever said anything about it."

"You can talk, you know." He urged. Why the fuck was he doing this, again? Curiosity? Or something more? "I won't tell a soul."

"I know you won't." She said confidently. It seemed she wasn't lying about it either. "But more importantly –" before she finished that, she cut herself off and shook her head. He knew this wasn't something he should pursue any further "– I'm sorry. I'll go take a walk now. You can sleep in the bed, if you'd like. I don't think I'll return until morning."

"Hey, hey, it's just _two_ in the morning!" He argued. "What the fuck –"

"Please?"

Her gaze was intense, and her voice firm.

Because Kanda knew that Rei can take care of herself, he was going to let her go, but he couldn't shake this feeling he was having.

Was it _guilt?_

But being under her glare like that, all he could've hoped to do was relent and walked to the bed, helping her up. "Fine. But take the damn Innocence with you. I won't go look for you if you get killed."

"Acknowledged." She said with a slight inclination of her head. "Thank you for understanding, Kanda-san."

"Whatever."

He really couldn't just ignore this feeling, indescribable as it was, no matter how much he tried to convince himself otherwise.

And before she even finished changing her dress, he again fell into a deep slumber with that lingering sense within him.

* * *

 _ **Just for the records, speaking multiple languages is very possible when you have good teachers and a lot of spare time. :v her ridiculousness will be explained properly WAY later, I promised ye!**_

 ** _Please do drop a review, comments, whatever! And see you again later! :D_**


	5. Chapter 5

**_Hello, folks! Sorry for the delay!_**

 ** _Here's a mission that will hint you onto something BIG, and if you have read a certain manga, you'll catch the reference quite quickly. If not... well, it's better that you don't know XD_**

 ** _Without further ado, let's get on with the show!_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter Five: The Mission of Kathmandu_**

He woke up again at six in the morning.

Kanda still remembered what happened last night, and as soon as he recalled every detail, he quickly looked around to find the bed still empty and the room occupied by no one but himself.

He groggily got up and took a peak out the window. There were too many people walking on the streets below with carts trying to run the pedestrian over. He frowned and snatched his exorcist uniform and a towel with him and went to bath. He was _not_ going to find that woman like this.

Kanda silently recalled that while the border and the majority of India used Sanskrit as their _lingua franca_ , Nepal was different. Gathering information in Kathmandu might just be a little harder. But he recalled one of the many talks Rei had with Maria, and it turned out the finder can speak Nepali. Gathering information might be the one thing he had to rely on that finder, after all.

The cold water from the tab jerked him out of his thoughts so hard he almost broke the knob. He looked at it to see that the tils beside it had a little crack going. Kanda frowned and just continued showering until he was satisfied and went to dress himself in his usual speed – which was incidentally a record time, according to Lavi – and went to glance at the window one last time –

– Why the fuck is Rei chasing someone in the streets?

He leapt out of the window and landed on top of a stall, spilling the apples all over the ground. He ignored the angry shouts from the store owner and shot him a death glare, silencing him instantly and quickly followed his comrade into a shadier alleyway not far from where they were resting.

He rounded the corner only to get surprised by a plank thrown at him; rather, it was the plank aimed for Rei's head. He didn't waste any time and followed suit, Mugen tight in his hands as he looked forward. The man she was chasing was wearing tattered garbs and sandy-colored head wraps. He shifted his eyes to him and paled even further before rounding yet another corner, his hand nimbly hooking the /three-story crates and brought them down.

Without a hitch in her strides, Rei vaulted over the almost one meter tall wooden crate with ease and quickened her pace by using the gaps on the wall to swung herself around the corner and reduced their distance. Kanda was a bit slower than that, jumping over instead of vaulting and using his foot as a pivot rather than the gap. They were then being blocked by a stall, toppled over by that man no doubt.

But she didn't break her stride.

Instead of trying to go around it, she leapt, placing both her hands on the nearest edge of the fallen stall and used her elbows to propel herself forward, landing gently on both her heels, much like how a tiger would give chase to its prey. Kanda didn't have that kind of mobility, so he had to take a longer way, but his wider gait allowed him to keep up with her.

This happened once every 30 seconds, where the man tried to slow them down and they tried to chase them. He can't ask anything yet, since he didn't want both of them to run out of breath before necessary. This happened for ten or so minutes, and he was starting to run out of breath. Kanda really think Rei wasn't as _woman-ish_ as she made herself to be. No woman has this kind of _stamina_ , dammit!

The chase stopped when the man ran into an impasse, with no scalable walls or windows in sight. Rei stopped to breath, using her sleeve to wipe away the beads of sweat on her forehead. Kanda arrived soon after, and he decided to ask her. "Who's this?"

"A Broker." She replied shortly, voice voided of any emotions. Her eyes were hard and set on the man, not on all four, trying desperately to crawl away. "It took me some time to hunt him down. Akumas were guarding him in public, so it consumed an hour or two to rid them _in private_."

"Does he know about the Innocence? Or the strange things happening here?"

"I'm not sure." She said, putting her free hand at the nape of her neck and _cracking_ it until there was a pop ringing through the deserted area. "But we will find out. Care to join me, Kanda-san?"

He shrugged. "Why not?"

She let him took the lead from here, and he was quite _happy_ with it. The man was trembling, pissing his pants to the point that the whole thing changed color and emitted the unpleasant smell. Kanda wrinkled his nose as he took the man's neck into his hand and lift him effortlessly up into the air. He had to be extra careful in order to avoid the piss-soaked leggings from coming into contact with his face.

"Stop flailing or I'll snap your neck." Kanda snarled and gave him the best death glare he could muster. The man paled even more, the last drop of blood leaving his features. After the Broker stopped, he began questioning. "So, what are your assignments here? Creating new Akumas? Hording Innocences?"

"I did _nothing_ of sorts!" He bellowed and pointed his finger and Rei, who hung back with both arms crossed. "You bitch! You chased me for no good rea –"

He tightened his hand so that the Broker stopped accusing. After he released it a bit to let the man breath, Kanda continued. "I won't repeat myself. And stop with the _I-don't-know-anything_ bullshit. We know you're fucking lying."

"I wasn't!"

"Then, do you care explaining _this_ to me?"

She said and brought out a blood-soaked sack Kanda saw earlier briefly. He had no idea where she kept it while running, though. Probably in the same hand as her Innocence. She opened it, made a disgusted face, and threw the content on the floor. It was a human-like head with lower jaws split in two, like an insect, with three extra eyes on the right side of its face and red-crystalline substance covering the other half.

"I found this in your manor's basement. This… _thing_ attacked me, and I was fairly certain it wasn't an Akuma since I killed it by blowing up your warehouse with barrels of gunpowder." She explained, mostly for Kanda's sake, before staring straight at the man with the same eyes she use a few weeks ago back in Russia. The eyes of the superior existence glaring onto the lower ones. "I will not repeat Kanda-san's question, either. Spit it out."

He must admired the fool for being able to make such a dignify face and tried to bluff them. "Or what? If you kill me, all is lost!"

"Who said I am going to kill you?" She said with the all-too-sweet smile that sent shiver running down Kanda's spine. "Maybe I'll pluck out your fingernails one by one. And after that, there's about hundreds or so bones I can break without killing you. Sounds like _fun_ , isn't it?"

Holy shit this woman is fucking insane.

But the Broker didn't relent. He spat at _him_.

Angrily, he wiped away the saliva and slammed the man against the wall, letting his body slide down it with spite in his eyes. Rei came over to his side and peaked out from behind is back to look at the man, and then to him. After a short while, she said, "Are you alright?"

"It's just a fucking spit." He replied, wiping his face one more time. "Fuck, he doesn't know when to quit, does he?"

"Well, at least we know he can be scared." She said, pointing at the pants. "I'd rather not do the things I mentioned before, but if it can't be helped…"

"Fine fine fine!" The man quickly wailed at them, scrambling closer to him but somehow further from Rei, who gave the Broker such sweet smile that he could tell she was _pissed_ , not that she ever showed it. "I'll – don't break my bones, I'll tell you all I know."

"Then please start." She said and then yawned. "I only got a few hours of sleep last night because of _you_ , so _please_ be quick about it or I'll throw you into the excrement pits behind your courtyard."

"The Earl only uses my manor for – for _experiments!_ " He squealed, hastening his speech as Mugen closed the distance to his neck. "I don't know what kind or what purpose! Only – only he starts creating those five years ago!"

Rei frowned at this. It seemed to have hit something. "Why?"

"The Earl only said something about 'A beast that should never have existed'. I – that's all I know! Please spare me!"

It was Kanda's turned to frown. What beast? And how did that have anything to do with experimenting human and turning one into that thing? He turned to Rei in order to discuss with her, but he stopped in his track.

Her eyebrows scrunched together unlike anything he's ever seen, her eyes squinted and a shadow of an emotion he couldn't quite name overtook the usual playfulness she wore. Her arms remained cross, with her right hand up to touch lightly at her chin, a gesture she does when deep in thought. One thing that was clear was that her whole body tensed and her jaws set.

And he did the same.

Just what kind of beast is this that compelled the Earl to do experiments – the one thing he had never before done?

"We'll need to thoroughly search the manor one more time." She said with a heave. "We don't have much time. I might have killed all the Akumas there, but that doesn't mean there won't be more."

"Then let's go."

"What about him?" She asked, looking neutrally at the man cowering before them. She made a _hmm_ sound before suggesting, "Maybe we tied him up here and call Maria-san to get him to the regional agents. That ought to do."

"That will." He nodded in agreement and swiftly knocked the Broker out with the hilt of his sword. He sighed, sheathed the blade, and turned to her. When she had finished contacting the finder, he said, "Lead the way."

"Aye, aye, _captain_."

* * *

The manor was up in the hill, unpopulated and suited for any and all kind of secret operations.

She explained that she trained in a sport known as _Parkour Running_ , more commonly mistaken as _free running_. Parkour, according to her words, were a kind of maneuver developed to navigate across terrains ridden with obstacles, ranging from the thickest forests to the busiest of streets. By using the basis of movements and momentums, a practitioner aimed to cross from one point to another, with or without obstacle, as fast as possible using the most suitable of maneuvers, such as jumping to cross gaps.

She showed it to him when they scaled the cliff.

With no wasted movements, she threw herself from one point of the stone cliff to another and, without pause, to the next. Tree branches, rocks, gaps, even the trees themselves, all seemed to exist solely to serve her. Kanda, being a man, had little issue navigating these terrains, but her agility and the amount of stamina saved looked rather useful. So he asked her to teach him later.

She accepted, just as he thought she would and continued to scale her way up until they reached the top of the hill that overlooked their destination.

The manor stood tall in the middle of a barren plain, with not even a single log that can be used for cover. Watchtowers, one for each corner of the walls, overlooked the plain. However, some parts of the wall had been breached, with huge chunks of rocks missing. And not a single guard was there – there was simple no sign of life, as if something had attacked the place.

And that something, judging from the position of the dents on the wall, must have come from the inside.

"This is really bothersome," Rei said, sighing and patting the back of her neck with her left hand while her right rested on her hip. IXA was placed just beside her feet. "It's broad daylight, and since I've already gotten in once, the security might have just gone through the roof."

"How did you get in?"

She made a face. "I was here in time when _something_ broke out. I don't care to know what it was, but the guards fussed all over it so I manage to get in and get surprised by a handful of Akumas. And then the Broker happened. You know the rest of the story."

"So we'll have to wait until nightfall." Kanda concluded, sitting by a tree with his legs crossed. "Or we'll have to find a way to sneak inside."

"Or better yet, we barge in through the front door." She said. He might've taken that seriously had she not been chuckling. "But that's just ridiculous. In any case, I managed to steal papers regarding some details from inside there, so we'll settle with that and find more in the evening."

"I don't know why, but I think your mood swing is the scariest of the lot." Kanda stated truthfully.

She chuckled and settled down beside him, legs stretched with her hands supporting her weight from behind. "I've heard that a lot. Truth be told, I am quite surprised at myself. It feels like I have more than one personality."

"Those aren't _personalities_ ," He said. "It's more like masks. Bookmen's. You just have so many, and each is highly detailed."

"If that's what you believe, then so will I." She smiled at him. Her eyes slowly shifted from his face to the manor, and then up the sky. "Mmm… this reminds me of something…"

"Of what?"

"A time long past," She said quietly. "The manor looks so familiar though. I think I've seen it somewhere _else_ before."

"That's just impossible." Kanda quickly jabbed, only for something to strike him silence. "Wait, unless –"

"Same architect." She finished for him, her legs drawn close and crossed, much like his. She rested her elbows atop her knees, and her chin on one hand. "This might be interesting. The problem is, I can't recall where."

" _Thank you_ for the usefulness of the information, Akihiro." He said sarcastically while half-spatting her name. She sometimes acted like Lavi; damn smart, but outright idiotic. "That gets us _nowhere!_ "

"Come on now, I've been travelling for _at least five years!_ " She said, pouting right at him. He could feel his ears heating up a little. It was kinda cute – and that, ladies and gentlemen, almost made him socked himself in the face. "But enough of me. Let's talk about the documents that I find."

She handed him a few folders, all with a seal of a noble he didn't recognize. All of them were blood-stained, with some having burn marks on it. Her clothing, he just noticed now, had some parts chipped off while the other was simply missing. There were dusts all over her coat, face and hair.

He decided to worry about that later and started looking through the files, which mainly consisted of photos of places and specimens. "From what I heard from the Akumas, it seems like the Earl uses this place to _create something_. I don't know its nature, only that there is a Noah overseeing the operation. Aside from that, the goal of doing this was to make something _'stronger_ ' than a Level Four to combat _'a certain existence'_."

"What existence? The _beast that should never existed?"_ Kanda recalled the name and repeated it, looking at a rather grotesque corpse of a man with many tools and blood-red things sticking out of his body. "Fuck, what's this?"

"Disregarding the fact that they're using humans as test subjects," She began quietly, her voice brimming with anger. For a doctor and a scientist to see such a thing, it's only understandable. "It seems they're rushing it; they only cared about results at the moment."

"How can you tell that?"

"Because instead of performing autopsies on the test subjects that failed to find out what went wrong and fix it, they instead tried everything they can think of at once. Without ample supplies of guinea pigs, that method would be time consuming. But when the Earl is the one who gives the supplies…"

"It becomes the fastest way." He finished for her, slamming the page shut and put it by his side. He kept the question as to why she referred to the test subjects as guinea pigs quiet. Probably the 'empathize but don't sympathize' policy of the doctors. "Well… this is fucked up."

"Indeed it is." She said, casting her eyes to their destination. "Indeed it is."

* * *

When nighttime come, she led him to the corner where forests at the edge of the plain are the thickest.

Once they were at the point closet to the wall, she pointed to him a large hole about ten feet above the ground level. After a short discussion, she activated her Innocence and put in on her shoulder. Sneaking to the wall, she stabbed _IXA_ into a crevice of the structure and hurled herself up in one motion, then offered him a hand that he accepted. Once they got in, he almost ( _almost_ , he repeated firmly) gasp in surprise.

The compound was nothing more than relics of a few days ago.

"It looks as if someone blew an entire Akuma plant in here." Kanda breathed as they hopped down and went into the darkest, closet corner. Rei peaked out to take a look and, seeing that the way was clear, she lead him to a closer corner.

"I don't know what did this, but it's _big_ ," She said and, before Kanda could act, stab a patrolling Akuma in the eye and dragged its corpse out of the way before it stained the ground. "Try not to stab a human, Kanda-san. As evil and as despicable as they may, they're still humans. Don't kill more than needed."

"Does that mean we have to kill if needed?"

She didn't reply, but her clenched jaws and her hard eyes said enough.

After a few skirmished that hadn't draw attentions, they arrived at what Kanda thought was a courtyard. There was a gray-skin child there, with a few Akuma and that damn pumpkin-head umbrella. He almost hissed at her, but the look on her eyes indicated that she already knew who that girl was; Road.

"Road-tama," The umbrella said, jiggling pitifully in the child's grasp. "Earl-tama said if you can't find it, you can leave it be. We have more than enough subjects and materials- _lero_."

"But that thing killed my favorite toy." She said with a soft sigh. Her golden eyes then looked at one of the kneeling Akuma, and from his side he saw Rei giving him a silent warning.

 _New Models. All of them_.

Well, shit.

"Sadly, this doesn't dissuade the Earl from continuing one bit. I guess it's a given, since that behemoth is that dangerous." Road continued and used the umbrella to tap one of the new model – one that looked like a black mediaval knight, only with real horns on its head and a tail that sprung from its waist – like a queen giving a title to her knight. "You,"

"Yes, milady?" It said and bowed further.

"Find that thing and monitor it. He did say he wants to know what it can do."

"As you wish."

The heart-shaped door sprung from the ground, and with one last glance to her surrounding, she went through.

Rei quickly crouched down and nudged Kanda slightly, jerking her head toward what seemed to be a warehouse. Since she had been here before, Kanda assumed it was the place where these experiments were held. A few of those New Models – some of them looked human-like, while others were simply beastly in appearance – leapt over their heads. Strangely enough, Rei was composed throughout, as if it didn't matter if they were found.

He shook that thought out of his head and quietly following her lead, his grip on Mugen loosen slightly as to reduce the strain he's putting on his wrist. He made his way to her side when they reached the end of the long-stretch alley and looked at the warehouse, with a few humans guarding the entrance and a big gaping hole at the side.

"We'll need to distract –" Kanda was about to suggest distracting the guards and sneaked in, but Rei apparently had another plan when she put IXA down and walked up to the two. Kanda gaped –

She did a round-house kick and knocked both of the men out in one fell swoop.

Holy shit. "Holy shit."

"What was you about to say? Distract the guards?" She said with a _sweet smile_ and picked up her sword. "Well that wasn't what I was expecting from you."

"But you – I thought – you said –"

"No kill and no damage are two different things." She winked and patted his shoulder. "Come on, now, we don't have much time. Let's see what's in there."

 _She's fucking scary_ , Kanda noted mentally and followed her and took a peak at the hole at the side of the building.

It seemed something broke from the inside out, and there were blood splattered on the wall opposite to it. Some body parts – entrails, brain matters, and a few fingers – were left stuck on the wall while others scattered on the ground below. Had he not seen something like this before, he'd surely have vomited the shit out of himself. He then glanced at Rei.

She was rubbing her chin; thinking of something again as she knelt down beside the lower body parts. Her fingers fished out something from the pocket of once-human, and then she started muttering to herself. "So they had begun, huh… anticipated, but I hadn't realized…"

What was she saying?

"One… no, _two_. Not three. If three the bodies might get messier… what's this? An imitation of _Scheitern?_ " She murmured to herself as she started examining the wounds of the body. He didn't get what she was saying one bit. What's with the one-two-three, and Scheitern?

"What are you talking about?" He hissed and closed their distances. However, Rei seemed to ignore him completely and frowned upon bringing out a certain piece; crystal red needle-like object which glowed and pulsated faintly.

She cursed in a language Kanda didn't recognize. Well, at least he thought she was, since her brows had knitted together and her jaws were clenching. Out of the blue, she hissed. "So _Scheitern_ it is. And here I thought it's just another…"

"What the _fuck_ do you know about these shits, Akihiro?" He half-snarled and snatched her wrist harshly. "Spit it out."

"It's just a speculation, and it's none of the Order's business." She snapped back, retracting her hand from his grasp and looked into the hole. "Let's just say that I've heard _rumors_ about the Earl being attacked by something, and he was trying to _create_ countermeasures."

"How does that not have anything to do with the Order?"

"Because as long as the Order doesn't get involved, the thing that attacked the Earl will ignore them." She stated sternly. "Trust me, Kanda-san, I've had first-hand experience, and I know very well what that thing's capable of."

He recalled something she said the night before. "Red-eyed?"

She stiffened, but later relaxed and nodded. "Red-eyed."

Kanda knew very well that she was lying, but her voice, her facial expression, everything is screaming at him – _please don't pry further_. Whatever this Red-eyed or this _Scheitern_ she was talking about was…

"I'll trust you on this one, Akihiro." He said at last, shoulders sagged in defeat as he took a peak into the hole. "If it happens to concern us, you have to spit it out."

"Thank you, Kanda-san." She said.

She didn't make any promise. But he was willing to let that slide.

Rei stood up from where she was crouching and took a peak through the hole as well. Inside, there were many large, man-size glass tubes filled with clear liquid. And inside most of them were deformed humans, with monstrous limbs or faces, and all of them were suspended inside the liquid. Some of those were broken, and the bodies were on the ground, soaked and unmoving, with blood and body parts of humans and the test subjected alike littered inside the room.

The stench made him wrinkled his nose, and Rei had to bring up her red mask to her face – albeit reluctantly, he noted – to cover the stench. She looked at him and shared a silent conversation with him. Once he nodded, she leapt across the gap and landed without a sound. He followed suit, and once they were inside, she led him downstairs into the basement.

The basement was a chemistry lab, of sort, with tables marred with crystal-red tissues, racks of test tubes of different kinds, and distillers. There were some machinery he didn't recognize, but he didn't care, and followed her until they reached what seemed to be tables for experiment progress documentations, slightly bloodied but mostly intact.

"We'll need to get these back to the Order." She commented and took what she deemed would make the most senses and would benefit them best. She took roughly twenty two papers filled with records and numbers, and folded them up, putting them into her belt's utility pocket and, after that was done, her fingers traced across the remaining documents.

"Wait," He called out and pushed her gently so that she gave him space. He then placed his hand on the table and, upon feeling something amiss, knocked on it. He looked at her and said, "You hear that?"

"Yes, the desk was hallowed." She said, pointing the tip of IXA on the table. "I'll break it. Wait a moment."

Gently and quietly, she knocked at her sword until the tip lodged into the wood, and with a push at the handle, the fake compartment was revealed. In there was another set of documents and an Innocence. Kanda grabbed the green piece and put it safely under his coat while she took a look at the papers, with her eyes growing fierce at each passing words.

"What is it?" He asked upon seeing her expression, eyes hard and cold. He imagined that her teeth must be clashing against each other hard enough to cause her pain.

"…They… were kidnapping _innocents_ for their damnable experiments, just to create something stronger." She hissed under her breath and, out of nowhere, swept all the papers onto the floor with so much rage even Kanda shivered involuntary. Her breath was erratic and labored. After a few moments, she calmed down and slammed her fist on the table. "Dammit! Damn them all!"

"Calm down, Akihiro." He chided, looking back to make sure they weren't heard nor followed. "There's no point venting your anger on papers. We'll make them pay later. For now, we've got what we are here for. Let's go."

She hesitated for a while and finally nodded. "You are right. Let's."

Their trip back was not as easy, however.

When they reached the ground floor, Rei had stopped dead in her track, her hand stilled on her mask. She was about to remove them when something caught her attention, it seemed. And in one swift motion, she dragged Kanda into the nearest corner and put a hand over his mouth to stifle any protest he was about to have.

A humongous man-like beast walked in through the door, followed by a man with his wits frightened off his body. The beast was nearly ten feet tall, with two pairs of eyes. Its mouth was fixed into a grinning expression, teeth bared from its lipless mouth and painted with dried blood. Its whole body seemed to be composed of hardened muscles, and its right arm was visibly larger than the other one.

The beast snarled and pushed the man into the middle of the room. Kanda then realized that it was the man they caught. That bastard escaped? Before he could ponder longer, the beast said, "What have you told them?"

"Only – only that we're experimenting on something! I didn't divulge the details! Not one bit!" The man wailed and stumbled backwards.

He glanced to the side and saw Rei looking at the scene with hard eyes, her grip on _IXA_ tightened significantly.

"Then why are the guards knocked out?" The beast roared. "They're here because you _told them something!_ Didn't you, you gutless bastard! And here I went into the trouble of rescuing you from the finders!"

"Please, I didn't tell them anything! You've got to believe me! That exorcist, she – she _deduced_ it on her own!"

" _LIAR!_ "

With one swift movement of its arm, the man's head was torn off his body and flew to where they were hiding. Kanda stared at the wide-open eyed of the dead man with mouth gaping and blood seeping from the neck. The headless body was on its knees, with blood spewing high and into the ceiling. The beast clicked its tongue and put two fingers into the severed _carotid artery_ to stop the fountain of blood while its other hand picked at its nose.

"Bah, what an idiot." The beast snorted and opened its mouth wide like a snake before taking a big chunk out of the dead body before it. "I supposed I was a bit too kind, ending it swiftly. Well, whatever… you rats, I know you're in here, I can _smell ya_. Come out, and let's play.

He was considering jumping out of the window and escape when he heard something unsealed, and the faint green light illuminated the room –

"Come out and play, little mouses!"

He looked at Rei, who was calming assessing the situation. Her eyes were on the beast, and then the hole not too far away from them, then to him, who was half-staring at her. Finally, she jerked her head to the wall and whispered to him. "We probably can't outrun it, but it'd be best if we can reach the forest. That way, we reduce probability of reinforcements."

He nodded, and they both bolted up from where they were hiding and run.

Kanda could hear commotions following them as they ducked from one alley to another, using passing-by human guards as platforms to propel them forward as they fled. They were unlucky to run to an impasse, but Rei didn't stop and run right straight to it. To his surprise, she leaped to the wall on the right side and used it to hop to the left, gaining altitude in the process. In one final leap, she got her free hand on the upper edge of the impasse and vaulted herself over.

Well, that parkour thing is useful.

He had no time to find alternative route when the beast (and a few more Akumas) followed suit, so he imitated what he saw and (barely) vaulted over the wall. Upon seeing that, the beast roared and breathed a fireball at them. Rei seemed to have anticipate that and activated _IXA_ , shielding them both from the powerful blast. She lingered but a bit longer before she followed him.

"The fuck's that thing!?" He asked between pants as he lead them through the way he'd seen some of the men used entering this place. They could left through the same large gap they came in, but that would take too much time to climb up. Going for the front door might actually be best.

"As if I'd know!" She said and grabbed his collar. Before he could protest, she pulled him to the side as a rock whizzed past his head and knocked a stunned guard's head clean off. "Holy heaven this thing hit like a cannon!"

"You don't say!" He roared and quickly slide down under a fell wooden beam, possibly caused by whatever shit had made the holes on the walls. Must be the same thing. "What the fuck could possibly wreck so much havoc?"

"Whatever it is, if it makes it to the city, the people are done for." She said.

"If it's still alive."

"Yes!" She affirmed his assertion and looked back. "First we outrun that thing and escaped from pursuers first –" she then ran up to his side and pointed at the upcoming four-story building "– can you destroy that building?"

"Hell yes!" Kanda replied and entered a half-stance before roaring with all his might. "Mugen – _Kaijuu Ichigen!_ "

The insects of the netherworld erupted from the gap his sword created, and it rushed to the building at his command, knocking down the pillars that were supporting the weight. It toppled, and right after they passed it, the building collapse on top of the pursuing giant beast. It roared, and two Level Fours flew by the obstacle and right at them.

"It's time I show you the gimmick, Kanda-san!" Rei said as she readied IXA and, after they both jumped over a fence, she entered a stabbing stance mid-air and plunged her sword forward even though her targets were far away and roared, " _IXA, mode change!_ "

The blade turned into four tentacle-like appendages. The coils straightened as fast as bullets, and the following Akumas were impaled in the eyes, killing them instantly. He only saw the beginning of the attack – the moment of impact wasn't caught by his eyes, and the next moment was that IXA had returned to its original shape.

Holy fuck that was scary.

"Jesus that thing was angry." Rei commented when they were more or less out of the fortress and into the woods. As soon as she said that, an angry roar of the beast (probably) resounded through the night sky.

"No shit, woman."

Out of nowhere, a random rock (probably thrown by that angry piece of shit, Kanda thought sourly) landed two inches from Rei's feet, and she yelped as she quickened her pace a little. "Holy smoke!"

"That thing was _very_ angry."

"Yeah." She nodded with a humorless laughter. "That thing was pissed."

* * *

After they've shaken off all pursuers and reached their hotels, the first thing Rei did was flop down on the bed…

…and died.

"Hey, woman, you sure you're alright?" It wasn't natural for him to ask, and it's understandable that she would be tired, but just an hour ago she was out-running him without breaking a sweat.

She waved her hand without lifting her face up off the pillow. After a few audible exhales, she mumbled something to the pillow. As if knowing that he didn't understand what she'd said earlier, she flipped her body so that her face was half way off the sheets. "I'll be fine. Just that adrenaline's run its course, and now I feel like someone's sitting on my shoulders."

She groaned.

"Well, at least the mission's finished." Kanda commented as he brought out the Innocence and put it on the bedside table. Shedding the coat off and hung it by the doorway, he sat down in the same beach-chair like he slept in just this morning. "And we got an Innocence. A nice souvenir."

"We'll have to bring the research materials back to the Order ASAP." She mumbled, already half-asleep by the look of things. Kanda really started to pity the woman by now. She turned her face slightly so she can look at him and blew her lips. "Brr… I really hope things don't turn this way. This must be what they called Murphy's law."

"What's that?" He asked, half curious and half bemused.

She put up an index finger and said, "It's originated from an engineer, _Stephen Goranson_ , who said this in a meeting of the engineering society; _It is found that anything that can go wrong at sea generally does go wrong sooner or later, so it is not to be wondered that owners prefer the safe to the scientific ... Sufficient stress can hardly be laid on the advantages of simplicity. The human factor cannot be safely neglected in planning machinery. If attention is to be obtained, the engine must be such that the engineer will be disposed to attend to it."_

"…in _English_ , please." He said after a long pause. What the fuck is she spouting at him? "What the fuck are you spouting?"

"To put it in simpler terms…" She trailed off, shifting slightly and rolled over so that she was fulling facing him, her eyes already half-closed. " _Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong_."

He opened his mouth, preparing to diffuse her ridiculous "law", but he closed it and thought on it. It turns out that _anything_ that he thought can go wrong but possibly wouldn't tend to do just that. Finally, he nodded. "…It seems there's truth to that thing of yours. What's it called, again?"

" _Murphy's Law_ ," She answered, followed by a huge yawn. "Oh my god I hadn't realized I'm this sleep deprive. Still so many surgeries on the list."

"Can't you just ask other doctors to perform it?"

"I'm the one doing it because they _can't_ ," She said and rolled again, yelping when she almost fell off the edge. " _Oh God!_ "

Is she going to be _really_ fine? "Are you going to be fine like that?"

"Nope." Her response was immediate, almost as if it was a reflex. "Definitely _nope_ , but I can't postponed t – wait, maybe I can. Some of them aren't actually that urgent… thank you for reminding me."

"You're welcome." He said with a shrug.

After a few minutes, she groaned again and bolted up, hair messy and eyes still closed as if she had just been woken up. Then she buried her face into her hands and mutely screamed. Kanda frowned at that, and he was about to ask what was wrong when she murmured. "I can't sleep."

"Aren't you dead-tired, just now?"

"I have OCD, so I kind of think things too hard, and sleep becomes _impossible_ at this moment." She asserted and flopped down on the bed again, spreading her arms and legs like a starfish and _wiggled them_.

"OCD?"

" _Obsessive Compulsive Disorder_ ," She translated. "Not the _impeding-my-daily-life_ kind, but a kind that makes me a doctor I am."

"Ah." Was all he could say. He took a look at her face again, and he realized that she left some part of that sentence out.

 _And also annoying enough that it keeps waking me up when I want to sleep_.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Suddenly, her golem buzzed and bolted out from her thrown overcoat and floated to her face. She half-glared at it and frowned as someone spoke; Komui. _"Akihiro-kun, Kanda-kun, sorry to bother you both."_

She changed her face and her mood quicker than anything he'd ever seen and replied, a hand over her eyes. "It's fine, Komui-san. What's the matter?"

 _"There's a report of red menacing beast that doesn't fit your description of a New Model. It seemed to target Akumas and humans alike. It's last seen at the forest near Kathmandu, so I was hoping you two could take a look at it."_

Rei glanced at him, and those eyes – he immediately knew what she was about to say, and he was too late to stop it. "We've retrieved a highly sensitive piece of information along with an Innocence. I'll be fine investigating the matter on my own, but I won't trust _just_ finders alone to get these back to the Order. I'll send Kanda-san back with the research materials we found and the Innocence, Komui-san. Is that alright with you?"

"Not with _me_ ," Kanda snapped. "You're half-dead already. I don't trust you with investigating _shit_ , Akihiro. You can go take these back. I'll take a look."

"As much as I appreciate your opinion, Kanda-san," Her voice suddenly turned venomous as she spat each word out carefully, sitting up and glaring daggers at him. "We don't know what that thing is. We don't even know how strong it is. The best bet is to send the stronger and the _more discreet_ of us two. Won't you agree?"

"But –"

 _"She has a point, Kanda-kun_ ," Komui diffused their arguments and cut off any possibilities of him talking his way into doing the mission. _"I know you're tired, but we need to stop this thing's rage as soon as possible. Find out anything you can, and eliminate that thing. And what about the information you acquired?"_

"I'll explain when I finished my mission, Komui-san." She said. "I'll estimate that it'll take me at least a week – more if information is lacking – including travel time back to the Order to finish my work. Can you wait until then?"

 _"Of course. I can take a look at the material myself in the meantime_." Komui said, and he could hear the man's _smile_. _"Take care, both of you. And see you soon, Kanda-kun_."

His window for arguing is permanently gone. "…Whatever."

Once the line was cut, he turned to face her, ready to scold her for her stupid reasoning, but all he could do was sat down and wait.

She had already fallen asleep, with her silver necklace he had never noticed until now clutched tightly to her chest.

* * *

When the next day arrived, the finder (Maria, he heard Rei called the woman) was there to greet them with the carriage they arrived with.

He had already packed his belongings, separating the research materials and the Innocence to another bag and loaded them into the cart. He was to leave for the Order at the break of dawn and, surprisingly enough, Rei was able to wake up _just to see him off_.

After she was done talking to the finder, she walked up to him and bowed out of the blue. Upon his question gaze and a raised eyebrow, she chuckled. "Thank you for your hard work, Kanda-san. I'll be seeing you in a week then?"

With a grunt, he murmured, "I'll hold you on to that, woman."

She only offered him an unreadable smile. "Of course. Have a safe trip."

"…Thanks." He said and boarded the carriage without pause, not even turning back to look at her as she, too, turned her back to him.

Without him noticing, her expression had turned cold and hard as she walked towards the hotel to prepare herself for her unknown solo assignment.

* * *

 ** _Interlude One: The Mission of Kathmandu – Two_**

Once Kanda-san was gone, I dropped my smiling façade.

It's better that he doesn't have to see what I'd become fighting against it – oh, I know full well what the beast Komui-san had mentioned was. And it knows me, all too well, and I know the moment I saw the research at the facility what I have to do.

Instead of going back to the hotel, I walked to a grocery store just down the street from there, my red iron mask jingling on my belt as I entered the shop.

It was run-down, with dusts flying freely in the air. Since this is so early without even the sun, the shop was quiet without a lantern to lid it. I set my suitcase down beside the wooden door, closed it, and stalked to the counter. Several kinds of herbs were set inside dirty glass jars, labeled with badly written English coupled with Sanskrit in blank ink. I put one arm on the counter and tapped at the counter a few times and, not to my surprise, a man walked out through the white curtain that separated the living quarter from the shop.

He wore westerner beige rain coat with the hood pulled up to cover his upper face. What was seen through the cowl was black beard with some grayed hair mixing in. He stopped at the entrance and looked at me for a few seconds before he smiled and pulled down his hood, revealing his other hand which was grabbing a black-red three-foot wide greatsword tightly.

"It took you longer than expect to attack the facility, I presume?" He asked as he set the greatsword aside and snatched a silver pot of tea into his hands. Setting it on the counter beside me, he went to the left most of the counter, probably for the cups.

"Well, the Broker was running." I said with a playful shrug and used my foot (I know it's a bad manner, but no one's here to criticize me for it) to drag a tall chair to me. "Kanda-san sure needs some work in Parkour-ing. I mean, he can't _outrun_ me, _me!_ "

"Don't use yourself as a normal standard, Missus," He said with a laugh and set two cups in front of me. "Oh yes, I forgot to ask. Tea or Coffee?"

"Coffee, black, no sugar," I said automatically. "While waiting for your mistress to brew, I'd like some help on tracking down _Scheitern_."

At the mention of that particular name, the hands that had been pouring the tea into the cup froze, and the flow of brownish liquid stopped. He resumed after a moment and coughed voluntarily. "So it's true. They are making _them_."

"It's to be expected, after all the crazy things _Takatsuki-san_ had pulled five years ago." I said as someone from behind the curtain gave the man before me another pot, smoking hot and smelled familiar. "Not that I'm comfortable dealing with it. But we both know that it needs to be done."

"Aye," Was his only answer as he poured me the black coffee, pure and simple. Just the smell of caffeine alone was enough to wake me up from my drowsy state of mind. "And the Finders?"

"I told them it's dangerous, and that I'll take it from there myself."

"It's last seen by the lads inside the forest a few day's walk from here," He said and sat down across from me, eyes serious and brows creased, his grayed hair swayed a little as he turned his head. "Be careful. It's certainly _eaten_ a lot while you were gone. And it seems like the Scheitern was looking..."

"For?" I asked. And regretting doing so the moment his eyes turned grim and he looked at me.

"You. It's looking for _you_."

At his answer, I know what I have to do. And I know it won't be easy.

"Alright then," I said, gulping down the last of my coffee. "Let's go."

From the scratches and the marks left in that facility, I don't know much, but I have an idea of one thing;

That this might be the messiest mission yet.

* * *

It took us five days for him to lead me to where the tracks were lost. The woods were torn – or rather, _shot down_ – and left a trail of destruction that led deeper into the forest. As I had instructed him, my guide left with hard eyes.

His name is Galahad. He is someone I know well, and someone I had known for years, ever since I was young. He is an Englishman who fled a crime wrongly placed on him to other part in Europe, and later to this place. Since he saw me like some sort of daughter, he trusted me without reason, so much that it almost killed him. This time, that trust is what I appreciated the most. Because the beast I was about to fight is more than any man can. I can't risk bringing him with me. Not like this.

When I was sure he was gone, I snapped my suitcase and activated _IXA_. The blade formed out of black-red substance and weighted down on my hand as it became a fully functional sword. My red iron mask, which I had on to switch my _personality_ , prevented me from churning when the foul smell of rots and deaths hit my nose. I walked a bit further, and what I saw was truly frightening.

The ground was littered with corpses of several Akumas, some riddled with index-size holes while others were simply torn to pieces or, worse, _bitten_. Most but a few Level Fours – some missing an arm, some half its head – were left alive, and among them with no injuries were the hulking beast we met at the facility yesterday.

Upon noticing me, the beast roared and entered a fighting stance. "You!"

"Have we met?" I asked innocently as my brows started to turn upward in a dignifying glare. I narrowed my eyes slightly. Even though the Akumas always seem to bolster that they have no such thing as fear, I can see some of the Level Fours stepped back.

"You _bitch_! You set this up, didn't you!?" It roared, but strangely enough, it didn't try to attack. I relaxed a bit and let it continued. "That fucking failure of a _killing machine_ is loose because of _you_ , isn't it!? You _bitch!_ "

"Let's all calm down for a moment, shall we?" I said, raising both my hands in surrender. "I know what beast you're talking about, but I am not the one who set it free. I am here to kill it, actually."

"Lair! LAIR!" It continued to scream. I all could do was sighed and shook my head, readying my weapons as it charged at me.

Then, shadow loomed over us, and I barely get out in time before it struck.

The beast was twice my height, with eight deformed limbs sprouting out from around its body and two blade-like appendages from its shoulder. It had many eyes situated on the right side of its face, and an everlasting sadistic grin on its lipless mouth as it looked at me.

Underneath the mask, I smiled. "It's been quite a while, _Takatsuki-san_ ,"

It grinned, and stabbed the berserker-like Akuma to death before throwing it off the side like a discarded doll. My eye never left it as it shot off quill-like red crystal spears off its back and killed off the remaining Level Four as if those were nothing but trash lying around.

"It's been _too long_ , _A-ki-hi-ro –!_ "

It screeched with voice like a maniac, and without any other delay, it charged.

Looks like I'll not get out of this one as easily as I'd thought.

* * *

 ** _Tada! And that's another chapter done! Soo... The updates will start being irregular now, since I can't even find a proper time to sleep due to all the tests and shits dumped on my head._**

 ** _Like it? Hate it? Let me know :D_**

 ** _Thank you for reading, and see you again next time!_**


	6. Chapter 6

**_Hello, folks! Here comes another chapter!_**

 ** _Really, If you look a bit harder into this, you can see where all the powers and shits come from, because I'm original but not enough :P :P :P_**

 ** _Annnnnyways, please do enjoy a little turmoil in this chapter! And have fun!_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter Six: Delayed Development_**

What Renee told them is… _terrifying_.

Alma was kept alive to be used as the First Womb?

Komui wished he could just shout at her and curse her for the atrocity she had committed, for the terrible things she had done in the name of God. No _God_ should've wanted for this. No God would've wished for his holy name to be tarnished by this _inhumane_ experiment. To turn a man into a monster to fight another monster is no different than selling the soul to Satan itself.

Yet here was the result. He had heard from Kanda and Allen a month ago that there was a strange man who could combat Akuma. He didn't know why, but somehow the announcement and the official deployment of these _Third_ were delayed. But now, what he feared most, what he dreaded, had come.

And there's no way to avoid it.

Then he thought of someone. If it's her –

"Fret not; I've already informed Akihiro Rei before I came here." Renee replied to the unspoken question stuck in his throat. It had been ten days since Rei was deployed to investigate the monster, and it seemed she should be back within a day or two. But to think Renee would've already informed her. But what of her opinion on this?

"What did she say?" He asked, glancing at the shaking Bak, whose eyes were glaring daggers at the woman who should've known the horror of the Second Exorcist project nine years ago.

"She didn't say anything, just that she'd like to talk with us," Renee gestured with both hands up in the air, welcoming something, and looked at the two Thirds behind her; Tevaku and Madarao. "I look forward to that."

"But why, Renee, _why?_ " Bak said with a tinge of desperation in his voice as he slammed his hand down on the table, hard enough to draw blood. "We've seen what happened _nine years ago_! This isn't something that should've been continued, _Renee!_ We both know it!"

"But it must, for the sake of the war." She said with finality as her voice rang out through the quiet room. After a minute of looking at each other fiercely, she relented and relaxed back onto her seat. "Besides, won't you agree that they will make a different in the war? Not only can they fight Akumas, they can also _protect_ people, something most exorcists cannot."

"Yes, but –"

"Look at this not as crime committed, Bak. Look at this in strategic view; this _benefits_ us all in _every way possible_." She said, and once the truth struck, even Komui found it hard to argue. The addition to the fighting force is something they'd been desperately needed. Surely, this will topple the scale to their favor – but, human experiments, they're all _wrong!_

"I –" Komui started, about to try and calm the air down for them all to think of this thoroughly, but he was interrupted by a golem ringing beside him. They all stopped, with the Thirds remained still in their position behind Renee. Komui silently thanked the golem for diffusing the tension and clicked at the bottom on his table. "Komui speaking. Who's this?"

 _"_ _It's me, Komui-san."_

A familiar voice came through, and he almost sighed in relief. She called at such a perfect timing Komui had thought for a few seconds that they were eavesdropped. He smiled faintly and, without looking at the two Branch Chief, spoke. "Hello, Akihiro-kun. How's the journey?"

 _"_ _Not bad, considering all the things I have to go through before I arrived here,"_ She said, half-complaining. _"I called to inform you that my trip back will be delayed a few days, since there were some bandits on the roads and the driver wanted to avoid them as much as possible."_

"How late would you be?" He asked.

 _"_ _Only a few days, at worst,"_ She assured him, and he could imagine Rei smiling, like she usually would, through her voice alone. Suddenly, her tone turned dead serious as she addressed him again, _"Komui-san, is Renee-san there?"_

"I am," She called, a little louder than needed, but he let that slide.

 _"_ _To be blunt, I do not like the idea of human experimentations,"_ She began with the answer he had anticipated from her. For someone so strongly pro-freedom and rights like her, this is a given. But he was shocked when she continued with enthusiasm unhidden beneath her voice. _"But the idea is just_ _ **ingenious**_ _. If you count out the fact that you ignore human rights, Renee-san, this is one of the most creative scientific experiments I've ever seen."_

Wait, what? "What? Are you agreeing –"

 _"_ _Komui-san,"_ She interrupted him, that child-like happiness still clear in her voice as she diffused his concern. _"I did say that the_ _ **idea**_ _is ingenious, but that doesn't mean I'll sit right with it. Ah, there are also a few points I'd like to make first before we go into details at a later date, Renee-san."_

"It's rare for someone to see it for what it is without biasing too much." Renee remarked with her chin held high and her legs crossed a bit more dignifiedly. She smiled deviously at them both and gestured for her to continue (even though she knew Rei couldn't have seen that). "Please continue."

 _"_ _From my Autopsies and, ah,_ _ **field studies**_ _of Akumas, I know for a fact that Akuma's cells are created from Dark Matter which, from what I recalled from the Order's archive, is created and influenced by the Earl, corrected?"_

"Yes, that is correct." Bak was the one to affirm this, strangely. He ignored that for now and leant forward, his concentration focused on what the exorcist had to say. "And?"

 _"_ _Wouldn't that mean, in a sense, the Third are all Akumas and thus can be influenced by the Earl's command?_ "

That froze everyone with shock, including Renee.

Of course, no one would've thought of that when all they could see was ways to improve their chances in victory. And Rei had just bluntly pointed that out – the fatal flaw that might backfire one day or another. Komui and Bak knew that what's done can't be undone, but at least this will deter any attempts to develop the project further, at least until they can conjure up some kind of, say, _protections_ against the Earl's control.

After waiting for the silence to pass on long enough, Rei coughed consciously with her voice a bit quieter and less intimidating this time. _"What's done is done. You can go ahead and discuss the countermeasures with other scientists for now, and I'll join you when I get back. I recommended Alexi-san as neural-anatomical correlations expert and Adriana-san as psychological experts. They might prove useful to your endeavor, Renee-san."_

A moment passed, and a half-shocked Renee nodded. "I… see. I've not seen that fatal flaw before. Thank you for pointing that out."

 _"_ _Please think nothing of it."_ She said, and Komui could hear the smile behind her voice. Suddenly, her tone turned cold, and more threatening than the last, like a final warning of the executioner to the prisoner. _"But I will not tolerate another human experimentation. If one more happens, there_ _ **will**_ _be consequences, Renee-san."_

"Ah – I, I understand –"

 _"_ _Excellent."_ Was all she said to that before she addressed him with a more cheerful and live-like voice. _"And Komui-san, I managed to secure a bag of Nepali Tea. Let's try that some when I get back. You too, Bak-san."_

"Sounds promising." He said. He still had that unnerving feelings of dread and fear in what she'd said to Renee before, but he shook it off. It wasn't directed at him, after all. "I'll see you in a few days, then?"

 _"_ _Yes."_ She replied. _"Then I'll be going now. Akihiro out."_

The line beeped, signaling that the caller had cut off the connection, and all of them just stayed there, still and silence. Renee shifted uncomfortably before making remarks. "I had heard from my subordinates… that she's smart… I have no idea she was _this_ intelligent."

"Not to mention scary in her own rights." Bak finished for her and shivered from head to toe. Komui understood that. She had her ways of intimidating the shit out of people without even being angry.

"…So," He started, clearing his throat. "You are done here, yes? I'll sent Reever and a few more scientists to help you with, um, _that problem_. Do you mind helping her too, Bak? You're more familiar with the base project – the Second Exorcist program – than I am."

"Sure, I guess, after I dropped this –" in his hands was a package, plain and without any markings "– thing by the Asian Branch first. Give me a short, no-bullshit version of the research materials first, will you?"

"Certainly, certainly," She said and stood up. "I'll be seeing you later then."

"Yes." Komui chirped.

"Well," Bak murmured as he made it to the door. "Dad and Mom probably did try their best, but this is an inevitable outcome… still…"

"It's fine, Bak." Komui said with a smile. "I'll see you soon."

With that, they were gone, leaving him alone to his thoughts. Should he tell Kanda-kun about this? But it will break him, one way or another.

What to do, what to do….

* * *

The training happened as per usual, with him beating the shit out of everyone involved. Well, except for one.

The damn geezer just doesn't know when to fucking _die_.

 _"_ _Hohohohoho,_ " The damn geezer, who had just stolen his one remaining hair tie, laughed as he swung the rope around his index finger. "Come as you wish, Kanda. When it comes to the form, I'm not ready to start losing to you young'ins just yet!"

"I'll destroy you." He snared as he cracked his neck.

He could hear angry shouts from the finders who he had beaten black-and-blue just not so long ago, but he promptly ignored it. They weren't worth his attentions. Lavi and that new meat was there somewhere in the pile of dead (?) people. And, of all the times possible, he had to start thinking about that _damn annoying woman_.

How was she? Was her mission alright?

That distraction was enough that he failed to notice a flying kick which he barely made it in time to block the blow. With a growl, he slapped the old man's leg to the side and retaliated with a forward-step straight punch. The geezer only grinned, as he seemed to have seen through that, and gently used his palm to deviate the course of his strike.

Kanda growled again and used the leg that was in the behind to sweep-attack him once the shorter man landed. As quickly as he fell, he leapt up and avoided being knocked off his feet. The crowded cheered as Kanda wiped the sweat off his forehead. He really had to concentrate if he's going to beat this geezer so that he could get his breakfast.

And that's how it went; they went back and forth, striking and retaliating with little to no progress, except that he felt like he was losing _every time_. He had to admit, the damn man had the perfect form. He ducked to prevent his head from being blown off, and jabbed forward, this time catching the old man in his armpit. He heard yelps, mostly from the sidelines, as the old man winched and backed away in pain.

Before he could continue, he heard commotions coming from the other end of the training ground. Lavi and the others rushed to it, but he remained where he was, observing from afar –

The red suits, and those marks… _CROW?_

"Just what –"

Before he could voice his confusion completely, his golem rung, bringing him out of his slight daze. Glaring at it once, he tapped at the eye and allowed the caller to talk to him. _"It's been a long time, Yuu."_

This voice – "Doctor Edgar?"

 _"_ _I told you he'd remember!"_ He heard the man, Edgar, called to the side in unconcealed excitement. He was probably with his wife, Kanda thought sourly as he went to pick up a bottle of water nearby. _"Well, sorry for calling you and I supposed – from your voice, I mean – that I called at a bad time?"_

"Not bad, just surprised." He murmured and wiped the remaining sweats from his brows and hands. "Why'd you call?"

 _"_ _Well – have you seen the new CROWs?"_

"Yeah. What of them?" He just knew this is not going anywhere good.

 _"_ _They started another project."_

He needed no more elaboration than that.

He remained silence and opted to walk away from the crowds, his dark eyes glancing back to the red-suit people every once in a few while. To think that they started something much like the Second project… as if they hadn't suffered enough. He knew Twi and Edgar must've tried their best to avoid it, but this outcome was, to the Order, _inevitable_. Humans, they never do learn from the mistakes in the past, do they?

 _"_ _I can't… elaborate much on the details, not without the greenlight from Malcolm, but I can tell you this is up to no good. They implanted Akuma's cells into human bodies, creating Third Exorcists. They were all members of CROWs, the mightiest ones, at that."_ Edgar explained in hushed voice. _"I'm sorry, Yuu, we've tried, but they –"_

"No one's blaming you, Doc." He cut the older male off as he rounded another corner, heading straight for the cafeteria, hopeful that he will not encounter one of those Thirds there. "I assume that's not the only reason you call me, either. What is it?"

 _"_ _Well,_ _ **this**_ _is the primary reason I called."_ He defended himself, letting slip the word _primarily_.

Kanda snorted. "That means there's _more_ than one."

 _"_ _Do you know the exorcist by the name of Akihiro? Akihiro Rei?_ "

Kanda froze mid-step, frowning. Why did that name had to come up now, of all the times? "Yeah, I do. What about her?"

 _"_ _I want to ask what kind of person she is, and all that."_ Edgar said. He could hear the man fidgeting behind the golem. _"Well, also I want to know if she has any special connections to the Central, because she pointed out a rather fatal flaw in the Third's project and delayed deployments."_

That sounded just like her, Kanda thought with an internal laughter. Well, he didn't know much about her connections, only what Komui told him. She had never mentioned any of those, either. "You'll have to ask her that yourself, Doc. But I do hear from Komui she's done a few favors for the higher-ups."

 _"_ _What favor?"_

He didn't know, but he could guess from her profession. "She's a physician."

 _"_ _Seems I'll have to ask her the details myself, then."_ Edgar said and, from the sound of it, he probably was scratching his head like he always does. Kanda snorted again. _"Thank you, Yuu. I'll drop by HQ in a few days, so maybe we'll see you then?"_

"We?"

 _"_ _Well, you know; me and Twi."_

"Ah," Was all Kanda managed to say. He forgot those two were couples, where the husband got scared shitless by the wife. It was kind of hilarious, when you think about it.

 _"_ _So, maybe we'll see you then. Take care, Yuu."_

"Che," He clicked his tongue. "Whatever."

The line was cut, and that was the last of that day he'd thought anything about the Thirds or the whole project in general.

It doesn't concern him, no matter what the Order does.

It doesn't concern _him_.

* * *

"Er… what's that thing?"

"Who knows?"

A few days later, there seemed to be something going on that took most minds off the Third Exorcists and their creepiness. Kanda wasn't one to actually care about these things, but the way scientists (even Komui, it seemed) flocked over a _certain_ thing did make him curious.

Once he was done with his lunch, he made his way down to the basement, where something was… _locked up_ , by the words of the guards. To think they would bring something alive and kicking to the Order, it's like taking home a box full of vipers. The crowds got thicker and thicker and finally, he reached the vast underground chamber, guarded by not two, but _ten_ CROWs.

What the fuck?

The door, high enough to reach the twenty-foot tall ceiling, remained closed with what looked like Chang family's spell sealing it. The CROWs were all battle ready, and most who was allowed inside seemed terrified enough. When he reached the gate's smaller door, also sealed in the same manner, he saw Twi and Edgar talking to Komui in serious manners. When he was closed enough to be noticed, Edgar smiled and beckoned him closer.

"It's good to see you all grown up, Yuu." He said and patted his head. If it was anybody else, he'd have twisted the offender's wrist and broke the arm. The older man seemed to take the clue and quickly withdrew his hand. "Well, we were just about to call you."

He frowned. "For what?"

"General Nine captured… _something_." Komui seemed uncomfortable while explaining, his eyes darting to the still closed door. "We don't know what it is, but it's dangerous enough to put Lau Jimin out of commission, so we'll need to be careful. And it's still alive."

"Then how did you capture it?"

"Ten CROWs put binding wings on it, so there's that."

He grunted and said nothing more.

He had figured that if he was to be called for this, others probably would, too, that included Rei… speaking of that woman, he hadn't heard from her since, but he assumed she returned safely because Komui hadn't caused any shitty commotions just yet. And he almost slapped himself again. Why did he have to care about that woman so much? It didn't make sense. Nothing after she came here does, actually.

After ten minutes or so of waiting, others started to show up, starting with Link and Allen who, upon seeing him, started an electrical glare contest with him. Then came General Cross, injured General Nine, and so on, one or two people at a time. He still didn't see her – and he sighed to himself for that thought. He was getting a bit jittery, and he really needed to stop that, or it's going to affect _everything_ , from his daily life to his missions.

He ignored the greetings that echoed around him, and closed his eyes, leaning his back against the large door with his arms crossed. His ears then rebelliously and _unintentionally_ picked up conversations between Edgar and Twi, who stood not too far away from him.

"So, you still haven't met her?" Twi had asked.

"No, since she was busy at Med Bay," Ah, so it's Akihiro they were talking about. He wondered briefly why, and decided that he didn't want to know. Or maybe he did, but he's denying it. "But she did analyze the sample I sent with Alexi yesterday, and we've talked through the golems. It seems that, as long as the "Womb" wasn't taken over by the Earl, the Thirds will be fine."

"That means human cells somehow prevent the Earl's control over the mind?" She asked rhetorically, and then added. "But there's no guarantee."

"There isn't." He affirmed, scratching his head again and gave out a tired and irritated groans. "To think Renee would do this thing without thinking about the consequences… this would've been noticed and the project would've been stopped as soon as this comes to light."

"Desperation blinds everyone, Edgar." Twi noted quietly.

"Yeah, it does." Edgar answered quietly. "Well… that asides, seems like Akihiro is one hell of a doctor… although she sucks a lot in terms of advanced physics and engineering in general."

"No one can know _everything_." Twi said sharply. "But her understanding in advanced biology, physiology, anatomy and chemistry is superb; they surpassed even me, or you. But it's true; she's terrible at advanced physics."

"It's a good thing she have some basics, or we will never be on the same page, _ever_." Edgar said jokingly.

"At least she digested new information and comprehended them better than _you_ , Edgar." Twi chided, and he could imagine the man cowering in fear. But after a moment, something struck him;

"Have you ever heard of _those two_?" Edgar suddenly asked, and Kanda's brows furrowed slightly. What was he talking about?

"After that… no, I've never heard. Nor Fou. Nor master Zhu." There was clear disappointment lacing behind her words.

"Really, they saved us so that we can prevent this." He said, and Kanda opened his eyes in time to see Edgar slamming his head into the wall. "Jesus."

"What are you talking about?"

He asked that before he could stop himself, and those two quickly turned to him, slightly taken aback by his sudden question. Twi was the first to compose herself as she walked closer to him, her eyes dark. After she seemed to have gathered enough courage, she said, "Do you remember… nine years ago?"

Nine? The only one thing worth the space in his mind –

His eyes widen as he breathed, "Alma?"

"We were all prepared to die and repent to the things we've done. Terrible, terrible things we did to both of you." She said heavily, her hands clenched hard enough to draw a droplet of blood. She frowned. "We were… convinced, to see reason… _saved_ , by a man and _someone else_. There were two of them."

"So you mean you were ready to die like the others?" He murmured.

"Yes." Edgar affirmed, eyes not looking at him. "But they said that if we do – they made us live so that we may suffer, to prevent anything like that from happening ever again. We failed. _We failed_."

"Stop it, you two." He said firmly. "No one's blaming you."

"Right." Edgar echoed, unconvinced. "Right."

Before they could continue, the last exorcist came, carrying the black, gold-trimmed suitcase with her. She wasn't wearing the black overcoat like usual, leaving her arms bare. Her milky white arms –

Kanda realized just how close and friendly to the gutter his mind was.

He ignored that as she stalked toward them, Alexi in tow. In her other hand was a data folder, of sort, and she seemed to be discussing intently with the neurosurgeon. As they got closer, the words became clear, and he could tell that she had, yet again, getting _not enough sleep_.

"Aside from that, we still have the problem that the "Control" stems from the cells lodged in the frontal lobe. I'm guessing it's the hippocampus, but the scans just aren't delicate enough to see them. Maybe try the cut at 1mm instead?" She said and handed the folder for Alexi to hold, then tapped at an area in the page.

"You're suggesting it has something to do with the learning system?"

"Maybe, I don't know for sure. But at least it has something to do with the cognitive function in general." She said and stopped short when she stood in the middle of the crowd. "Well, just do the scans one more time. The faster we can get this done, the quicker we can develop countermeasures."

"Aye, aye," Alexi saluted and left.

After he left, she turned to Edgar and Twi, who were looking at her a bit too obviously. They blushed and looked away, earning them a heartily laughter from the ever-smiling exorcist. She went to where they were and offered them both a hand. "My name is Akihiro Rei. I presume you are Twi Chang-san and Edgar Chang Martin-san, yes?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah!" Edgar answered quickly and took her hand, shaking it two times and moved to make room for his wife. "Good to finally meet you."

"I am Twi Chang. Forgive my husband for his nervousness." Twi said and threw Edgar a dirty glare, making him cower even further. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Akihiro Rei."

"Pleasure's all mine." She said and bowed slightly. "And please call me Rei. We don't really need to be so formal around each other, Twi-san."

"You're the one who starts the formality." The older woman said with a rare smile. "Let's work together from here on, Rei-chan."

The younger woman laughed. "I'll be looking forward to it."

After all that was done, Kanda moved in order to strike a conversation with her – well, he had come to realize that she's the _only_ people who he could _enjoy_ talking with. Less annoying than Alma, but scarier, he thought. But he was cut off by the idiot Beansprout waving his hand widely like an idiot that he was. She smiled and, once they were within hearing range of each other, the damn idiot bowed his head and smiled.

"Welcome back, Rei-san! How was the mission?"

"Oh, it's fine. The thing Komui-san sent me to investigate is more or less a failed experiment. I don't know what it was, because I kind of pushed it down into the river and the body was lost." She said with a tinge of regret, and then she just shrugged. "I managed to avoid injury thanks to _IXA_ , too. How about you?"

"I think you'd fare better than we did in that madhouse." Allen laughed bitterly with his eyes casting to Cross who was, as always, wooing a woman scientist. "I mean, there were ghosts and everything…"

At this she burst out laughing, earning looks from those around her. Allen blushed under that and mumbled something like _please stop_. Her laughter did slow down, at last, but still she slipped a bit as she spoke, wiping the tears that formed at the corner of her eyes. "Ah, sorry, sorry, I just don't strike you for the type to be afraid of _ghosts!_ "

"Rei-san! Even Master was scared _shitless_!"

"Don't _lie_ , you brat!" Cross thundered from further away, but the damaged had already been done. Others laugh while Kanda raised a brow in surprise. He truly didn't think that _both of them_ , actually, would be afraid of _ghosts_.

"Haha, I'd like to see if I'll be terrified until I faint sometimes!" She remarked and patted Allen lightly in the head. "Well, I'm glad to see that you're all safe and sound. You can talk to me any time you like about anything, Allen."

"Thank you, Rei-san."

"Oi, if it ain't my underling."

The one who cut the conversation into bits and pieces were no other than the madman Sokalo. He walked up, his wicked mask covering most of his face but the white eyes that seemed to glare at everything and turned them into stones or something. Rei turned to him and bowed politely. Allen, taking the cue, stepped away and happened to land beside him.

"BaKanda."

"Beansprout."

What the fuck with this casual greeting? Rei is rubbing off on him, no doubt.

"It's good to see you, General." She said with a smile and, upon seeing that his left arm was put on a sling, she frowned. "You dislocated your shoulder?"

"Good guess," He affirmed, nodding his head and patted the injured shoulder twice before shrugging. "Eh, not much; just had a bit too much fun and put a bit too much strength 'hind a throw. Popped it on my own."

"Well, if it's just anterior dislocation then there shouldn't be a problem." She assessed, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "But if this happens too many times you might find out that your shoulders are… more _flexible_ than you'd like."

"I'll keep that in mind." He huffed. It's rare to see Sokalo, of all people, actually taking advice seriously. But from what little he knew of her, her not-often-used-but-goddamned-scary glare must certainly affected him some. "So, how was your solo? Any good thing to tell?"

"The fight was pretty mediocre, but one thing I've made note is that the beast – whatever in the high heavens that was – has absurd strength behind its strikes. It's a good thing I'm more prone to dodge with as little movements as possible, or I'd have been hit. Or dead. Either that or that."

"Gimme the details later, I wanna hear it." Kanda could tell the man was eager to hear her stories. "Knowing you, it ain't as bland as you make it t'be."

"Aye, aye, Master." She said and saluted him. "You should join the other Generals now, sir. They seemed to have discussed about the… thing in there."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll give you the details la'er."

"I can ask the details from Chief Komui myself, but thank you for your thoughtfulness, General." She said, smiled, and bowed – the three things that she seemed to _always_ do together, like a combo or something.

Sokalo excused himself, leaving her to him and the Beansprout.

"You have an idea about the thing in there?" Kanda asked.

She shook her head and rubbing the back of her neck gingerly. "Ah… no, sadly, I do not. I was occupied with the Third's project at the time. Do you?"

"I wouldn't have asked if I do, idiot." He grunted.

"Kanda, that was uncalled for!"

"It's fine, Allen," She said and raised a hand to stop him. Scratching her cheek with a sheepish smile, she added. "That was an idiotic question. The lack of sleep is doing me in again, I supposed."

"You are so workaholics, Rei-san."

"I know."

Their exchanges stopped their when Lvellie, closely followed by Renee and the Third Exorcists, arrived. He could see from the side that Lenalee was slightly shaken, but she managed to hold her ground as the man walked by her. A brief greetings happened between them and the group of Branch Chiefs, who arrived not too long ago, before the man alone proceeded to where they were – this was getting interesting.

He stopped before Rei, his eyes glaring dagger at her. She simply smiled up – and, for the record, that did _not_ match her eyes at all – and waited for the Inspector to greet the Chang couple before addressing her through almost gritted teeth. "Akihiro."

"You are finally here, Inspector Lvellie." She addressed back with a slight bow of her head. Her eyes went to Renee and the Thirds. "I thought the Thirds were ordered to remain out of range until we can develop countermeasures?"

"We can confirm for a fact that _that thing_ isn't an Akuma." He snarled.

"But there's no guarantee it is with the Earl now, is it?"

"That is true," He said, and Kanda just knew that was a terrible move. "But –"

"Sir, with all due respect," She said so casually, so flatly, that it sent shivers down his and Allen's spine. "If they turned on us, I'll not hesitate to put them down. Humans they may be, but if they're controlled then I'm putting the lives of the exorcists and the personals here above theirs."

That was cold, and ruthless. It made sense, because there's no guarantee that the damage can be undone – well, he had heard about the delay of the Third project, but he hadn't realized Rei was involved. He should've known… she talked with Edgar and Twi about working together, too, after all. But still that was uncharacteristic of her. And when he looked at her eyes, he realized just how little he knew about this woman.

Her eyes were cold, indifferent, and aloof, like she didn't care if she had to take those lives by her own hands. She had been so caring, so _affectionate_ about lives and saving people that he didn't know she would have this side about her. He noticed Lvellie gulping down his saliva and took a step back. Still that man tried his hardest to assert his authority. "The Pope will not agree to this."

"Do you think he can afford ticking time-bombs to run amok amongst the one and only group of soldiers able to fight the Earl? I think not." She commented flatly and gave him a cruel smile. "Please, Lvellie- _san_ , you cannot out reason and sneak your way through someone like me with empty promise of misused of authority like this. You'll have to try more than that."

"Know your place, exorcist."

Her smile grew colder, if that was even possible. "If you think aristocrats and politicians will scare me, you'll have to rethink your strategy. I don't care about repercussions because _I can just wipe you all out_."

Certainly, others must've been listening, because he could hear gasps from all around them. Even Sokalo seemed surprise. For someone who loves life and hell-bent on saving people like Rei – a doctor, no less – the way she easily threatened Lvellie with total annihilation was _terrifying_.

The man's eyes grew wide and his face paled. And as quick as that came, he regained his composure. "CROWs will bring you down if that comes to pass."

He could literally see an image of grim reaper behind her as she issued her next threat. And to be frank, this is going to hurt her images badly.

"Then all I have to do is eliminated them before they can."

"Err…."

The savior was Komui, who came and broke them apart with sweat beads running down his hands and face. "Akihiro-kun, you don't mean what you said just now… right?"

The coldness, the ruthlessness, the dark that lingered within her dissipated and was replaced by child-like smile. "Of course not! I'm pro-life, Komui-san. Even if they're bad people, killing is just against my policy."

She winked playfully.

"Besides, I'm just a good actress, is all."

That broke the tension, and everyone relaxed. But Lavi and Bookmen didn't; they were looking at her with analyzing gaze, and so was Kanda. He didn't believe that, no matter how perfect that façade was. Her promises of deaths were real enough to cause him to shiver. Others probably weren't used to human-to-human threats of deaths like he and the Bookmen would, but he knew one thing now.

One terrifying thing; that she isn't to be trusted.

Once Komui cleared the tension, he waited for the air to lighten up, he began explaining the situation. "A few days prior, General Nine encountered a beast unlike anything we've seen. Two times a human's height and with monstrous regenerative abilities, this thing is more dangerous than anything we've ever seen. It can shoot bullet-like quills, the blades on its back and cut down rocks and trees like butters, and it is intelligent. _Very_ intelligent."

There were gasps and muttering all around. But those stopped when Komui continued, eyes glancing at the reports before him.

"General Nine managed to injure it enough with Lau Jimin, but at the same time Lau was put out of commission by taking more than twenties of those quills. It is now restrained by CROWs and sealed inside the protective barrier. With its unique one red eye at the middle of its head and its jaws that, when closed, looks like a beak, we've nicknamed it _Owl_."

His lateral field of visual saw Rei stiffened slightly.

And so, the small gate opened, and one by one they entered with their weapons in hands and readied.

The room was spacious, as large as the main training ground, with ceiling high and dark. The room was with but four spotlights pointing at something sealed and bounded within the concealment of ten-layered barrier. Kanda thought that was a bit overkill, but seeing holes in a few of them made him realized that doing so was actually kind of appropriate.

The beast was draped in blood-red cloak, its head red and bald with two pairs of tiny horns pointing backwards. There was a single eyeball in the middle, with black sclera and red shining iris. Its mouth was closed, but he can see now where the name Owl was coming from; the lower jaw's two sides and the middle were higher than the rest of its lip-line, and it imitated a bird's beak.

Upon its shoulders were red quills that draped over them like mantles, with two large arm-like blades being bound by many of the CROWs' spell tags. He still remembered when he was bounded by those, and just a few of them were heavy as shit. These just made it clear how powerful this beast must be, to need so many tags (so many that the numbers from nine years ago couldn't even match) to hold it down.

Upon entering twenty-foot radius away from it, it jerked its head up and bared its teeth, revealing human-like (but sharper-ish) fangs. It wiggled, testing the strength of its bounds, and settled down. Then it roared.

"Ow!" He, and those who didn't have hearing impairments, barely covered their ears in time. The voice was ear-splitting, and it took a full fifteen seconds for the after effect to fade.

"What… is that thing?" Allen breathed beside him.

Before Komui could begin explaining, however, the beast _smiled_ , grinned like a madman, and rattled its large, cylindrical tongue against its teeth.

"You are here, my dear little _rabbi-tttttt!_ "

"I didn't know it could talk," Komui said and stepped back slightly. Kanda also noted the slight frown on his face – the man probably wondered just why it would talk now, of all the times.

And calling them _rabbits_ were just insulting.

"We ain't no rabbits, you funkin' piece of junk." Sokalo roared, his Innocence ready to cut anything in its path. But the beast simply let out a shrilled laughter and shook its head furiously.

"I wasn't referring to you simpletons."

"Still, calling us rabbits are just insulting." Cross added from the side, his gun raised and ready to unleash its power. Then the beast laughed and laughed, and Komui and Lenalee had to calm the two Generals down so that they can gain more information from the beast, whatever it was.

"The clock is ticking, my _dear!_ " It sang, and its eye rolls around wildly, scaring most of them. That eye was just unnerving to look at.

And what did it mean?"

"The clock is ticking," It sang again, a little louder this time. "And you're just wasting your time! I wonder if _our esteemed king_ would approve of you playing with the good guy instead of the baddi-es!"

Well. Now they know one thing for certain.

This thing is batshit crazy.

* * *

 _ **So here comes our secondary antagonist ;) do you like its craziness? No? Yes?**_

 _ **Either way, I'm going to make a cut here. Please drop a review, if you may! I wanna hear your thoughts to improve mah story :)**_

 _ **Also, merry X-mas and HNY in advanced. Chao!**_


	7. Chapter 7

**_Sorry for being Late, again... even New Year, there's still so much to do._**

 ** _EXAMS! D:_**

 ** _Anywho, as I've warned you earlier, my schedule got a lot more messy than it should have, and I'm having a hard time, er, finding time at all. 5 Hours of sleep a day! D: And Less!_**

 ** _Anyways, enough of my rantings. Belated Merry XMAS and HNY to you all :D_**

 ** _Please Read at your Leisure, and Review, if you may!_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter Seven: Emergence_**

Once the beast stopped laughing, Komui made the first move.

Kanda readied his weapon, just like the rest of them except for only one, who was watching the beast with analyzing gaze; Rei.

"What are you?" Komui asked cautiously, but the beast didn't answer. Instead it rolled its eye to look at all of them, one by one, rinse and repeat. The Chief sighed and scratched his head. "Well, seems like there's nothing I can do."

"Let me try, Komui-san."

Rei quipped up and activated her Innocence. This time, instead of black rapier with large handguard, it turned into a Kyuu Guntou – Sabre-like katana with curved handguard that reached only around half of the handle with one end attached to the guard and the other free in the air, curving inward. The hilt was plane black with gold trimmings; the pommel was pointed rhomboid and shining red in color.

What struck him most was the blade, blood red and... _Teeming with life_. It glowed, and the red essences seemed to _flow_ like real blood in a living body. It gave of a vile aura that Allen seemed to have noticed like he did, and his left eye – although inactivated – received extra attention.

"Ho-ho-ho!" The beast laughed and leant closer to her, eye glaring at her blood blade and grinned. "That teems with so much _hatred_ I had mistaken it for my _dear friend_ , the old Tatara!"

"Well, it _does_ operate on the same basis as _his_." She said with a shrug and put the sword on her shoulder. And then she raised her left hand, putting her thumb over the joint of her index finger, and snapped it with a loud _crack_ resonating throughout the silent room. "So… what brings you here?"

"You remind me _so much_ of the Old King, you see," It ignored her question and grinned wider and wider, looking at her with such hunger that, if Kanda was in her spot, he would probably backed away out of fear. But she stood her ground, demeanor unchanged. "That emotionless face and that ferocity. I'm just _so glad_ you turn out like this!"

"You're glad I'm going to be the one to lop off your head, _Takatsuki-san?_ "

Lvellie's eyes squinted, and the Branch Chiefs were all looking at her. Kanda, after seeing how dangerous she could've been, directed his gaze towards her as well, ready to draw the blade against Rei if needed be. How did she know the beast? It only appeared just now. How? Did she collaborate with it?

"Come now, dear rabbit, just use my _real name_!" It said threateningly.

With a smile that didn't match her eyes, she said, "I refuse."

"Bah!"

It was but a fraction of second, but it was so fast his eyes cannot follow. A moment later, he registered that she had shifted her body slightly with the sword impaled into the ground. And something large, like a crystalline arm-size needle, was lodged in the floor next to her blade. It was probably deflected by her, and when he looked up, he saw a part of its quill-like mantle was lost and was regenerating, like waves of darkness slowing taking form, and there was a large gaping hole through _ten fucking layers of the barriers_.

"Takatsuki-san," She called the beast casually, as if nothing had happened, as she pulled out the blade and took one more step until she was but a few feet away from the barrier. "You know that is just _not_ going to work, right?"

"It's not like I can do much with this body." The beast heaved and jerked its head towards its normal, three-finger hand that was falling apart, bits by bits. "With no hosts, this is more or less a toy. Still, the monkey was pretty fun."

"And me?" She asked, and Kanda pieced it together quickly;

The beast she was sent to investigate. That's probably this thing.

But… didn't she kill it?

"Well, you are no fun." It complained, dropping its head. "You end things way too quickly, and that body had a _host_! A host! Although newly formed. You should have not lopped my head off outright, you know."

"Heh," She laughed once, mostly in disdain, as her fingers traced across the rough surface of the red lance still lodged on the concrete. "I can't afford you to take any more lives, so all I can do it put you down like a dog that you always are. Although, I didn't think that your _consciousness_ can jumps from body to body."

"Jump… from bodies to bodies?" Kanda repeated hesitantly.

But that was ignored as the beast lolled its head to the side. "Ah, that's true, that's how you are. Like the esteemed Old King, you don't play around. Shame. If you were like the clowns or those folks, this would be so much better."

" _Your purposes_ here, Takatsuki-san," She snarled, and the way she delivered those words, with so many ill-intend about the, made his skin crawled. He had never seen her like this; a vile beast, ruthless and unforgiving. "If you don't want to talk, then I'll put this body of yours down, right now."

"Chill, Akihiro-chan," It cooed. "You know why I'm here."

"I don't." She replied flatly.

"Ahaha! So serious, so serious," It said and opened its mouth ajar, continuing with its only eye never leaving her. "Ah, I'm here because of _you_. You gave me so little time to actually _kill something_ that I just had to try and kill you here."

Rei looked around and shrugged, her expression indifferent. "You can try. But that lance you just shot at me was probably the last thing you saved just for this occasion. Then…" She trailed off, entering a combat stance. "Shall I put you down here and now?"

"You can try with all you might, but you know I'm going to spring back up."

She hesitated, but finally she revert her activation and relaxed. She looked at Komui and bowed slightly. "I'm sorry, Komui-san. It seems like I can't bring out any useful information, either."

When she was about to step away from the beast, it spoke, in the first time since their conversation start, with seriousness.

"You do realize you did _crack your finger_ , right?"

Rei stopped mid track, her eyes widened in horrid realization.

"So you don't know." It said, its voice grim, then suddenly the grin spread, like disease, like plague, dangerous and disgusting. "So you _don't know_. You're going to lose it sooner or later, little rabbit! Hahahaha!"

He didn't know what Lvellie told her when she walked back into the group of people, but she didn't respond, only looking at her left hand – the hand that she had promptly crack her finger.

It was shaking.

"Centipede in your ears!" The beast started singing, directing its only eye at her, mocking her. "Centipedes, crawling, snapping! Eat, but instead get eaten inside out! Snap and crunches! Fleshes and bones break under you! Hahahaha! And then let's cut the fingers and grow them back and snap them again just like _Jason_ would!"

They were all confused at the words of the beast, but Rei seemed to know the meaning of it and stopped staring at her hand, looking up. Her mouth hung open, and it snapped shut before her hand flew up to cover it.

"You've gotta _eat_ one day or the other! But it'll just end the same, you know, dear rabbit! Just eat and snap them into your mouth! The _scents_ are mouth-watering! Ohhhh, I wanted _soooo much_ to taste them all! You want that too, right? The taste, so sweet as it melts! _Hahahahaha_!"

She inhaled sharply, as if to gather her composure and said, strained, repeating the same sentence with increased severity. "I'll not end like you. I'll _not end like you_. I'll not end like _you_."

"It's _in-e-vi-ta-ble!_ " It emphasized each word as its mouth grew too wide and its jaws snapped apart. "It's just not like you to cling to _false hope_!"

"Master," Rei said, half-pleading. And Sokalo took the hint.

"That thing won't be saying anything useful, now. And it can shoot through the barrier, Komui." Sokalo pointed out, jerking his chin at the gaping hole that was slowly repaired by the automate system. "I suggested we kill it and hack it open for studies later."

After a moment of thinking, Komui nodded, stepping back. "You're right. All CROWs unit, please tighten the binds on the Owl. I will turn off the barrier, and the Generals will proceed to kill it."

During all of that, Kanda's eyes never leave her, now with face pale and jaws clenched tightly, eyes dark and filled with primal fear.

* * *

"Do you care to explain how you know about that thing, Akihiro?"

Lvellie said smugly. Right now, there were just him and the Inspector in a closed room with CROWs guarding the outside. The man probably knew this could be used to wedge against her favor with the Pope. She seemed to know that, too, but if he had to guess, she prioritized information for the Order more than whatever secrets she had.

"It's… an archenemy of mine, I supposed." She said hesitantly, pacing back and forth between one end of the room and another. She was rubbing at her left knuckle almost too consciously, her brows furrowed in contemplation and something more Komui couldn't quite put his finger on. "Takatsuki Sen, that's what it's called."

"Didn't it tell you to use its _real name?_ "

Rei shook her head in response to Lvellie' question, "It… that name it talked about has no meaning, it's just… some sort of _pen name_ it uses. But its real name is Takatsuki Sen."

"Continue, Akihiro. I'm listening." Lvellie said. "The Pope is going to be thrilled to hear that you've been keeping secrets from him."

Her eyes swept the room once before resting at the smug inspector, her features showing no sign of dreading the outcome. It was either she was confident that her favor with the Pope will not fail, or she simply didn't care much about it. He was leaning on the latter.

"I met it five years ago… in… a village." She said, so quietly that it was barely audible. She frowned again, eyes hard as she slowly and painfully recalled the details. "Everything's jumbled but… when I first met it, it was destroying the village that I lived in."

"That's not helping much, is it?" Lvellie said snarkly.

"Be quiet, Inspector." Komui snapped. "Let her speak. Take it slow, Akihiro-kun, there's no rush. Just take it easy. I know you keep it a secret for a reason."

"Thank you, Komui-san." She said with a small smile. "Well… it attacked, and I fought back, blacking out not long after. When I came to, everything was just… _gone_. I was wounded pretty badly back then, barely able to move for a whole month. It was larger than this, with one eye, blood red like this one. It's stronger… I think. And it was _eating_ and killing the townspeople while I watched, helpless."

"I supposed that's when you synchronize with your Innocence?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly. She opened her mouth and closed them, unsure of what to do next. She was reluctant and reserve, Komui could tell that much from his experience, even though the signs were subtle at best. There must be something more… but with Lvellie here, he won't pry any further.

Finally, she nodded. "No, no… I had mine way before that. I used N –" At this, she cut herself off and shook her head "– I used my weapon to cut off its arm. But I was countered with countless bullet-like quills of it, and I was out cold for who knows how long."

She stopped there, her hands reached up and brought out a silver pendant, with a strange symbol that looked like a… mask of some sort.

"The second and the last time I met it… It was weaker, but still a formidable foe. I got my legs broken and a massive hemorrhage back then, but I saw it _dissipated_ before my eyes, so I thought it was dead." She said, and then she added with a bit of anger brimming at the edge of her voice. "I cut it into many thousand pieces, I _killed it_ , ripped it apart, tear it from limb to limb. It _died_ , I was sure… but this…"

She looked at the direction where the door was and narrowed her eyes.

"I don't know why… but that mission you gave me before I returned here, when I confronted it – I just _know_ it was still _alive_. It seems as long as even a shred of its being remains in this world, it will not die."

"That –" Komui trailed off and gulped. If a being like that existed and sided with the Earl. "If it's with the Earl, then –"

"Fortunately for us, it doesn't care who it kills as long as it gets to." She said and a strained smile appear. "That mission, I found one of the New Model. Before it could attack me, it was killed by the – what did you call it, _Owl?_ – yes, it was killed by that thing. I had a few talk with it, a bit surprised, and it's surprisingly cooperative… _until_ it tried to eat me."

"One last question," Lvellie said. "What was the whole last part about? The eat and the centipedes?"

She shivered and reluctantly said. "It's something… that happened around five years ago, too. I – there are centipedes crawling _everywhere –_ "

Even Lvellie was not so heartless, so he just waved his hand for her to stop. She lowered her head slightly in a silent thank you.

"Thank you, Akihiro-kun." Komui quickly said, seeing that her hands had clenched into fists, now with blood dripping down her palms. Lvellie was not as smug as he did throughout the later part of the story. He had probably bought it, since her body language didn't lie. And maybe he pitied her "You can tell me later when you're ready. I'll help the others dissect it. You can go rest for now."

Unlike any other time when she would furiously refuse the thought of sleep and go back to work, she just docilely nodded and headed out, the suitcase tight in her hands. She probably had to deal with all the rumors that would soon spread about her knowing the beast too. It's best if he could diffuse that.

But for now –

"To think something like that exist." Lvellie initiated. It was surprising that something with such ridiculous regenerative abilities existed. "At least we can trust her that she actually thought it was dead – from her expressions and all of that, I don't think she can lie."

"I'm surprised you believe her, Inspector."

"It's hard not to when she's being anxious and fearful like that."

So he hadn't caught on to the subtle sign that Rei was hiding something. _Thank goodness_ , Komui blessed internally.

"I'll be leaving now, then, Supervisor."

"Ah, yes. Please take care."

* * *

A week passed by in silence, and the anxiety had settled down.

Mostly, that was due to Rei being a smiling, caring and gentle doctor that she had always been, without any signs of changing into a murderer or a traitor, and the fact that she killed one of the beast herself pretty much cleared her name on its own.

Still, Kanda found out that being with her made his nerves burn.

And, just with his luck, he was paired up with _her_ on a mission.

"You didn't object last time." Komui reasoned, looking slightly surprised at his change in demeanor. Well, he supposed that's to be given, since all of a sudden he's giving her cold shoulders (not that she complained or even _take notice_ , Kanda noted grimly) and openly voiced that he didn't like her.

"Can't you just send me with someone? Beansprout or something is fine."

It was ridiculous, but he's more comfortable handing his live to that brat than someone he thought he knew, but didn't. It wasn't that he was distrustful of her in a sense that she might be a traitor, but it was in a term that, in a sense, a friend had turned out to be total stranger.

It's mostly irrational, he knew; just a single look at how easily she passed her threat of taking lives towards another human with well-hidden and closely-directed killing intent is just ridiculous. Even if she passed it as a joke, no one could've joked it with such a high bloodlust. He had talked with Lavi about this once, too, and they both came into the same conclusions –

She had to be hiding something, and she was _extremely dangerous_.

It's not like she will just come up to him at night and slit his throat, but he couldn't just work with her like this. He needed to be able to trust her _more_.

He supposed the only problem is that she lied terribly about something, and only three people seemed to have noticed. She, for one, is a deceiver; being able to lie her way through them like walking in the park. Another is that she must have taken lives – _human_ lives – before, because that's the only thing that would explain the way she displayed her anger, a week ago against Lvellie.

And there's one more thing –

Her change in demeanor, although minute, is noticeable, as if she had dropped her mask and stopped acting. That just meant that all he'd known her had been but a grand act.

It might not be the case, but he will not trust anyone blindly. Never.

Komui's gaze lingered at him a little longer before he addressed someone else from afar. "Ah, I'm sorry –"

"It's alright, Komui-san."

He turned his head to see Rei standing at the door, her coat and weapon ready in her hand. She didn't look at all surprised, with that faint smile and the way she relaxed as she leant against the door. Komui looked at him pointedly once, and he ignored it. "I'm sorry, he just suddenly… If it's right by you… ah, I don't want to send anyone alone –"

"I can handle the Owl myself just fine, Komui-san." She said with an affirmative smile as she closed the door and walked to Komui's table without regarding the still sitting Kanda. "If he doesn't want to, there's no point in forcing him. I have fought the Owl before, so as long as I move carefully without going out of my way to do reckless things, I'll be alright."

"Ah – if that's the case, then let me revise the mission files a bit. I'll have you look at a few more information sources afterwards, too."

"If you wish," She said with a small nod and, for the first time in the week, directly addressed him; he had been avoiding her, and Rei hadn't made any move to try striking a conversation with him like she usually would, so this is a surprise. "Kanda-san, may I talk to you for a second?"

She left without waiting for his answer.

"Kanda-kun," Komui addressed him sternly. "I don't know why you're acting the way you did, but _please_ , she had done nothing wrong. The beast is the one thing she thought she'd killed, not like she was initially planning on hiding things from us. Besides, she could just keep it a secret if she wished, but she spoke out because she wanted us to know."

He didn't buy Komui one bit. He had this hunch that she spoke out like she did not because of that, but some other reason. He wasn't willing to find out, and he sure as hell wouldn't trust her as long as she kept it with her. Whatever the secrets she was hiding were, those _do connect_ to the Order.

Besides, such a fearsome killer instinct isn't something _anyone_ could have. There has to be something more.

He wished she'd just come clean about it.

Kanda ignored Komui's words and went out of the door to find Rei standing cross-armed beside it, her eyes gazing to the rain outside the window. She didn't even look at him when she spoke, her voice indifferent, bland, like a machine. "Kanda-san, I understand that you stopped trusting me the moment I threatened Lvellie-san and spoke to the Owl, but if we're going to win this war, you will have to swallow that pride of yours and _work with me_."

"I don't work with lairs who can compromise my safety, _woman_." He snarled back, slamming the door shut a bit harder than he had intended. He glared at Rei, who still avoided his eyes. "If you want to work with me, then _spit it out_. I know you're hiding something – something that _will_ have an impact on the Order, on _me_. If you can't do that, then I can't trust you."

She didn't even waste time contemplating. She simply sighed and nodded her head in defeat before lowering her arms and picked up her suitcase. "I can't blame you for that. If I were you… well, that doesn't matter now, does it?"

"So you're fine with this, me not trusting you and baring my teeth at you?" He didn't know what make him asked that, but it's already done. Kanda knew that, deep down, he had _wished_ for her to just come clean so that his little friendship-ish relationship with her could continue as if nothing had happened. Instead, she just accepted it as it was and… nothing.

She only gave him a tired smile, glancing at him once, before walking toward the glass, her free hand raised. She brushed her fingers on the mist-covered window, slowly dragging them down and stopped midway. "I'm… not fine with it, it's just that there's nothing more I can do."

"You can just tell me what the fuck you were hiding and get it over with." He offered, a bit forcefully. "Just spit it out already, woman."

She shook her head; a sad smile graced her lips as she looked straight at him for a few seconds. And she returned her gaze outward once more. "Something, Kanda-san, is meant to be buried forever. But secrets don't exist, so…" She breathed out, closing her eyes. "At least, I want to prolong it. This, Kanda-san, I don't want you – _any_ of you – to know."

"Even if all of us would hate and curse you for it?" He asked.

There was not a pause as she replied; "Yes. Even if you _all_ tell me to go to hell, call me a monster, damn me, whatever… I don't want you to know. I don't want you to _see_." She ended with her fingers curled up slightly. She reopened her eyes again, still staring forward.

"Why?" He asked, a little more desperate this time. "Why? What kind of secret – or _secrets_ – that would compel you to keep it with your life?"

"You waste your time trying to convince me otherwise, Kanda-san." She said and looked at his straight in the eyes. For once in his life, he was _terrified_. There was something unexplainable about it that made his heart ached. Some fear, despair, and many more mixed up in there. "Nothing you say will make me change my mind."

An absurd idea popped up in his mind. And he had acted before he could even bring himself to _care_ for the consequences.

He kissed her.

Kanda had circled around her waist with one hand while the other wounded into her black, shoulder-length locks, soft and velvety. She promptly dropped her Innocence beside them as he trapped her in his arms, bringing her body flushed against his. Her lips were soft, but she had reflectively clamped them shut, and a moan of protest escaped her throat.

He instinctively coerced her to open her mouth by nipping softly at the lower lip, and she gasped out in surprise, allowing him to explore further. Her hands, one trapped by her side was useless while the other was trying its hardest to pry him off her, but their strength as humans were just too different. He kissed harder, not allowing her to breathe.

It was only because he needed air that he broke away, and the next thing he knew he was feeling a sting coming from his left cheek.

The moment she managed to break out of his hold, she slapped him.

And her face wasn't tearful, or frightened –

It was anger. Pure, unadulterated fury he had never seen before. Unlike the time in Chita, where her anger was superficial – fierce, as it was, but also not too uncommon – this was something that made him _cowered in fear_.

She snapped out of it as quickly as she had used the glare upon him, and she just quietly picked up the suitcase and left hastily.

And then Kanda realized that the reasons he had conjured up – all the distrusts he had come up with, those weren't why he couldn't bare working with her. It was not simply because she became a stranger in his eyes.

It was because he _loves_ her that he couldn't accept the change.

Stupid love that drives him to kill Alma is here. And is hurts. It hurts _so much_.

Just what had he done?

* * *

"You sure are lively today, Tyki-pon."

"Mmm? Really? Didn't notice."

Tyki was humming, indicating that he was in fact in a good mood. They were each assigned a job involving monitoring the activity of all these… mind-controlled test subjects of theirs, and he happened to find out a piece of, say, _lead_ – Akihiro Rei, the woman exorcist who the Owl seemed to know.

His job was simple; abduct her, interrogate her, and maybe used her as a bait to lure the real deal out. The problems laid with the fact that she is not an easy target – a new exorcist Tyki only knew is an equipment-type with too much unknown property, an innate combat ability that is on par with the Generals (he still remembered his bouts with Cross, and see what happened), and her all-too-keen intellect. So, he did was he did best;

Ordering Akumas (pawns) to die and tire her out before going in himself.

His eyes watched the monitor before him, showing images of her mowing down Level Threes and Fours with ease, using not the black rapier he had heard but a blood-red sabre-katana hybrid that seemed to have something he called a _phantom range –_ a reach of a weapon unnoticed by outsiders. He hated that kind of property the most, because Innocence is the one thing that he cannot phase through, and that phantom ranged will throw his timings to shit.

But as an equipment-type, she herself shouldn't pose much of a problem. As soon as he reached her, it'd be over. Maybe he'll pull out her spine so she won't be able to move, or just rip out one lung. Or maybe he'll just cause her enough pain to make her writhe and beg as he broke her, piece by piece, until she divulged all the information he needed.

Yeah, that worked. And he was trilled – _he couldn't wait for it_.

The Earl also watched the monitor from behind him, a hand rubbing at his elongated chin thoughtfully as he let out a low chuckle. Even though the rate she disposed of those Akumas was alarming, every humans has their limits, and she will reach hers sooner or later. It's but a matter of time, now. He had not realized that a grin was creeping across his face when the Earl spoke again.

"Tyki-pon, try not to get too excite, alright? I need her alive. I wanted to know how some of our test-subjects turn into the _Owl_ itself." He said; seriousness clearly evident. Tyki knew, too, what his assignment itself meant. He could _not_ afford to kill her, because the damn Owl wouldn't say useful shit.

"I know, Earl. You can trust me on this." He said, throwing his head back far until he was looking at the Earl upside-down, a grin still plastered on his face, his eyes giving off a predator's glint. He returned his attention to the scene, and he was mildly surprised, to put it lightly. "It's been almost an hour, doesn't she supposed to tire out by now?"

"It's strange, true." The Earl echoed, walking toward him and sat down beside him on the couch, the furniture tipped as the weight of the Earl crushed onto it mercilessly. "I assumed she is a Crystal Type, but my informants in the Order had denied that claim, saying that the Cube accommodator said that she is an equipment-type, and nothing more."

"Haah, well, that might have something to do with her profession." He said plainly. "We all know surgeons need to be able to stand and operate for who knows how long. Even if it's different, I think it might relate."

"There's no point looking into it." The Earl declared. "Sooner or later she's going to fall. You just swoop in and make sure she's alive, and we'll have Road pried her pretty brain open for us."

"Jeez, Earl, you sounded scary." Tyki commented with a sheepish smile. "But hey, who am I to judge?"

Suddenly, half of the Akuma forces they sent were mowed down, and the Earl gaped as the shadowy, dysmorphic figure came into view. It has eyes and mouths, large and small, all over its body – blood red, like exposed muscles – and it fought like a maddened beast. He hadn't recognized it at first, but then the color of the eyes, with red iris and black sclera, that rolled all over its body was enough to give him some clue.

"Is that… the _Owl?_ " Tyki voiced, racking through his brains any visual cues of their test subjects. Because somehow, the Owl rose from a test subject of their ongoing experiment – only one, leaving the rest to their control – and looked like it can change its body as soon as the old one is down. "There's not a single one that looks like _that_ , was it?"

"No, there wasn't one." The Earl said, leaning closer. "What's happening?"

As he questioned the appearance of the Owl, its many mouths grabbed and chewed at anything in its path while the ones it couldn't eat, it crushed to pastes with it long, disfigured arms instead. It crawled in a beeline straight to where the exorcist was fighting, and she dodged its attack by a hair.

The beast crashed into the Akumas, causing some's heads to get torn off their shoulders by pure forces while others were simply crushed and splattered under the mass of limbs and mouths and eyes. It turned the head with a single large eyeball with three horizontal zig-zag lines on each side of the eye, and a mouth with tongue filled with miniature mouths and incomplete eyes. Even to Tyki, its appearance was just _disgusting_.

 _"_ _Ehehehehehehehe,_ " The Owl laughed with all of available mouths while the rest chewed and chomped at the Akumas it managed to pick up along the way. It stopped in front of the exorcist girl and lurched. _"I thought you might have missed me, Akihiro-chan. Ow, this thing I ate hurts –"_

It didn't look like the Owl was referring to the Akumas. The exorcist girl seemed to know what it meant, and under the blood red mask, she smiled as she brandished her sword. _"I see you've eaten Narukami, Takatsuki-san. Where did you find it?"_

 _"_ _I don't remember, and I don't care. Do you want it backkk?"_ It cooed, opening its main mouth wide. _"You can join it in my stomach!"_

 _"_ _I'll have to decline_." She replied sharply and brandished her Innocence, her legs spread slightly to lower her center of gravity. _"But I'd like to get it back, so I'll have to ask you to regurgitate it out for me. Will you?"_

 _"_ _Of course I W-O-N'-T!"_

It crashed its body on her, but a second later, steel tentacle-ish objects pierced it through and through before the exorcist herself tore away from its body, her cloths and skins covered in blood and grimes. She quickly distanced herself and stabbed an Akuma on her way out. She looked back and moved her left arm – now with a scratch noticeable on the backside – experimentally.

 _"_ _You are so not kidding when you said you swallowed it whole back then, Takatsuki-san. How's the taste?_ "

 _"_ _Could've been worse,_ " It replied oh-so-casually, its malformed body twisting and turning to face the exorcist again, the main mouth grinning wide as eyes started to roll out from the tongue and splattered on the ground. _"Since it is made from an S-plus rate, it's to be expected. But I'd like you as a supplement."_

 _"_ _I won't taste as good, trust me."_ She said, holding both hands up, indicating that she was trying to convince the monster. Then she was interrupted by an ambush from behind. She slightly side-stepped to avoid the Akuma, stabbed it with her black rapier, and threw it to feed the monsters. _"They do, though."_

 _"_ _So, we do it like this,"_ The beast began after swallowing the unfortunate soul whole, grinning crookedly as it moved to face the horde of Akumas. _"We try to kill and eat these new meats while putting the "I need to kill you" parts aside for now. But should opportunity arise…"_

 _"_ _I wholeheartedly agree,"_ The woman said at last and slashed a Level Four, no less, in half with one graceful swing. _"May fortune favor the bold."_

 _"_ _And may our hunger never be sated 3!"_

"They're kind-of teaming up against us, now?" The Earl murmured from the side. "The Owl is with neither the Order nor us… quite a dangerous third party it has become."

"So? What do you want me to do?" Tyki asked, whistling when the woman ducked to avoid the wide-arc strike from the Owl as she too scored a kill of her own. They are both dangerous in a different way, but dangerous regardless. "I don't think leaving them like that will really benefit us."

"This will be your work, then." The Earl said at last. "Go there, assisted the troops, and captured that woman exorcist alive. As for the Owl – no matter how many times we killed it, it always came back…"

"We should kill it again, still." Tyki said.

"We should." The Earl nodded. "Take Road and Sheryl with you. Those two joining forces might prove hard even for me to cut them down."

"Aye, aye."

* * *

 ** _Because kissing inappropriately is a thing._**

 ** _And yes, she did not slap him. She punched him. Kind of._**

 ** _There's a reason for her fear of love, and it'll be elaborate... later. Let's just say it has something to do with her... personal issues. Innocences, that kind of stuffs :v_**

 _ **Well, I'll be seeing you guys later, then. For now, do drop a few comments :D they're always appreciated!**_


	8. Chapter 8

**_Hello there again, folks! This time, less action, more OOCness, more angst! This time I'll give you a flash of Rei's secrets ;) of course, revealing it too soon would be hella boring, so here you go, more CLIFFHANGAHs._**

 ** _Wahahaha._**

 ** _Anyway, enjoy!_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter Eight: Secrets under the Red Mask_**

Aiden had known Rei for more than a decade.

And even that, he still hadn't been able to grasp her thought processes.

It was when she was five years old, a child so energetic on the outside, but calm and thoughtful within, that she met him. Then, he was but a simple miner who had lost his left arm in a terrible accident and could barely make enough money to sustain himself. She was with an old man who he later known to be someone very important to the Black Order, and she had asked that elder that he be taken in.

Still quite bold back then, he had scoffed at her and attempted to hit her away – he had realized then that she wasn't just a normal human. She was much, _much worse_ , and also much better than most. She had shown him first her terrifying nature, and she replaced it with a warm smile, welcoming him and giving him a chance to do something for himself once. Despite such an age, she had much too matured a mind to belong to a child.

After years of patiently studying under someone less experienced but more knowledgeable than he is in sciences, and theology under the best of the best in the world (not her, Rei's an atheist), she promptly told him, two more people recruited at around the same time as him, and an elder the truth behind her seemingly once-in-a-century kind of talents and intellects.

The truths terrified him, naturally.

But he gladly accepted it. No matter what she is or who she is, she saved him from the life of a miner who's bound to die, sooner or later, and that isn't a debt easily overwhelm by a simple revelation. The other two thought the same as he did, and swore fealty that she refused.

They became friends, brothers and sisters. Finally, a family was born.

"You thinking of the old times, Aiden?"

A voice jerked him out of his thoughts, and he merely nodded. The woman, Maria, wasn't just any simple finder. She was the same as he is; an apprentice and a very good fighter. Right now they were out with other finders, taking a look at some strange lights and readings at the edge of a city. But he had been contacted by Rei once, just a few hours ago, and something in her voices and her surroundings said that something happened.

"Yeah, but more importantly, I'm worried 'bout her." He said, looking at the readings from the machines before him. Using his left prosthetic arm, he passed one of the papers to Maria and the other to join the piles of junk at the foot of the table, he continued. "Mistress only said something about _lightning_ , the strongest weapon. You know anything?"

"You must mean the _Narukami_ ," She said, nodding. "Yeah, it's one of the two original weapons she had, right until she lost it in her original bouts with Takatsuki Sen. What about it? Did she recover it?"

"Found, not recovered." He said, jaws clenching. His left hand unconsciously touched at something just under his back collar and pressed on it. He felt the warmth, the humming, and grunted before explaining. "She also ordered that if we encountered _something_ – we know what it is – we're allowed to use _the_ _prototypes._ "

"Then that means the Owl has become stronger." Maria said, ripping one of the papers apart. "I hope it wouldn't come to that, because if it does, that means she, too, had to activate her _Innocence_."

The words Maria had uttered would have confused many, since they all knew that _IXA_ is her Innocence, something she used daily. But they knew better than that. There were secrets she had left unspoken, and that is for the best.

"She'll contact us again if something urgent happens, or if the matter at hands is resolved. For now, go monitor Master Walker's performances. With the data we will get from him, we might be able to slow down Mistress's _deterioration_."

Rei had some form of… _mental deterioration_ from a certain event five years ago, the same time of the Owl's emergence. It had been under control for so, so long, but suddenly it was surfacing back up, stronger, eating her mind and body alike. They had managed to tinker up a suppressant, but that too is failing, slowly but noticeably.

They were running out of time, and with the Owl barking at their door, this matter just upped its level of danger and urgency ten folds.

She had always been plagued by nightmares; of the time long past, of the lives lost before her eyes and slipped between her fingers, and the one-eyed demon that whispered to her, coerced her to give in to its becks and calls. Every time she refused, her conditions worsen, bits by bits, steadily and slowly. She had endured for so long, for her sake, theirs, and the Order's. But if all came to pass and she finally snapped, they were given a single standing order;

No matter how painful or how much they wished not to do it, they _must_ kill her without hesitation.

"We won't have to kill her," Maria said as she sensed his air, with heaviness and uncertainty about it. They all felt the same. She is their family, after all – just killing her on a whim, if that was even possible, wasn't something any of them could do lightly. "She's still fighting. It's not like her to give up, and if she hadn't, then so shouldn't we."

"But I can't shake this feeling of dread off, you know." He mumbled, brows knitting together into a tight knot. "Her nightmares were becoming more and more frequent, and whatever transpired between her and the Owl with those exorcists, it made her nightmares _worse_. She told me about them, and I've compared it with her previous records…"

He trailed off, catching his breath,

"She is starting to feel _centipedes_ crawling 'neath her skins."

Maria stared at him and finally breathed. "Oh my god."

Before they could continue their conversations, however, his golem gave a buzz. He glanced at Maria once and answered the call. The voice coming through was like music to his ears. The caller sounded a bit out of breath, and maybe in pain, but definitely alive and more than happy. _"Aiden! Jesus, I was thinking I won't be able to reach you from this distance!"_

Wiping the smile and the slight smug off of his face, he replied, leaning slightly forward to make his voice clearer. "You know, Missus, Galahad is a very good Engineer, unlike you who sucks so much in that field."

 _"_ _Oh, shut up!"_ She half-whispered, slightly panting, but nothing too severe as he and Maria both could still hear the merriness in his voice. _"Anyway, I don't have much time before I've got to make a run for it. But I have very, very good news I've been waiting for and I'll share it with you!"_

"Divulge it, then. We can't wait to hear it." Maria said, using his head to rest her arms. He grunted and attempted to swat her away, to no avail.

 _"_ _I've recovered Nakukami."_ At this, she sounded a bit pained, as if her words split her wounds apart. She took a few seconds to catch her breath and sighed before continuing. _"I think I broke my arm and have parts of my muscles eaten, but I recovered it, good as new."_

"Are you safe, Mistress?" Aiden inquired. He couldn't be sure if that was the case, because recovering Narukami means she must've fought the Owl, and with the recent activity of hers and the Owl combined, there are bound to be Akumas and Noahs involved. And with Rei being marked by the Earl himself –

 _"_ _Not really,"_ She stated truthfully, her voice a mere whisper now. _"The other good news, but not quite, is that I discovered why there is more than one body for Takatsuki-san to use and why she's not really_ _ **dead**_ _. It seems like the Earl, in his attempts to find… ah,_ _ **countermeasures**_ _for the Owl, uses the parts he recovered from five years ago to try and create Owls of his own."_

There was a pause, and they both shouted into the golem in unison.

 _"_ He fucking _WHAT?_ "

She didn't answer right away, and her silence was accompanied by shouts and roars, of madness and anger. He heard something about Tyki being cut and something about a congregation of dead Akumas and the still alive Owl on the prowl. He glanced briefly at Maria, who had already contacted the elder and Marcus, the third and final member of their little makeshift family, and got them on the line.

 _"_ _They're here._ " Rei whispered, at last, her voice strained. There were ruffles, sounds of something shifting, and stumbling footsteps. She must have been more injured than she had let on. _"I have to flee now. I'll contact you again when I can."_

"Mistress, just what –"

The line went dead, and all they could do was stare.

* * *

"Narukami?"

"Yes. It was once my Innocence, but it was lost during the original fight with the Owl five years ago."

As she explained, her fingers traced over the suitcase with the same color and appearance as the inactivated form of _IXA_. Hevlaska looked as surprised as he was, her tendrils caring over the case tenderly. Rei's left hand caress her right, wounded and in cast for her broken arm, instinctively before she forced it back down and continued.

"Defense and Offense, they were meant to complement each other and cover the other's weakness. While IXA lacks power, Narukami lacks proper defense to cover me against attacks. With both in my hands, those weaknesses were nulled. But five years ago, I lost it to the jaws of the Owl and it was lost." As she explained, she took the case away from Hevlaska for but a moment and clicked at a certain spot and activated it.

The case morphed into a golden sword with J-shaped handle sporting a well-hidden button Komui assumed to be a trigger. The guard had reverse cup-hilt like those on the rapier, except that the mouth of the cup turned outward, facing the blade. The blade wasn't pointed; it had a cut end instead, and that loss of pointed end was compensated by the incredible sharpness of the edge. He could see _lightning_ cackles from the blade.

 _"_ _This is… incredible."_ Hevlaska voiced as she took the blade from Rei's only uninjured hand. _"It's even more powerful than IXA, which is already in a league of its own… let me check your synchronization rate for a second."_

They waited patiently.

 _"_ _Only one number; and that is 105 percent."_

"That means my observation is true," Komui murmured, turning to look at her and smiled warmly. She returned with a smile of her own. "You truly are our fifth General, Akihiro-kun. Hevlaska, what about _IXA?_ "

She brought the mentioned Innocence off from the ground and inspected it as well, taking as little time as when she looked into Narukami. _"It's the same; the Synchronization rate is 105 percent. They feel almost… the same, as if they were born from a single piece of Innocence. But they were separated entities. It means that you possess two very unique and very powerful Innocences."_

"Mhm," was Rei's only response as she took both swords back into her hands and winched slightly as her right, still injured and bruised, let go of _IXA_. She cursed something underneath her breath and used the fourth and little fingers of her left hand to pick it up. She looked pointedly at her right arm which rested on the sling coming from her shoulder and murmured incoherently. He caught the few last words. "…told them to not make a fuss, and then fuss over it myself. What an idiot."

 _"_ _Strangely,"_ Hevlaska said, oblivious to Rei's mumbling. _"I still can't get a grip as to what your prophecy is, Akihiro Rei. But I do know one thing; that every single time I examined you or your Innocence, I can feel your connections growing steadily. It is a good sign."_

He didn't understand why Rei was frowning, or why her face was slightly pale, but she quickly wiped that off of her face and smiled up.

"Thank you for your input, Hevlaska-san. I cannot let these two down, now, can I?" She said merrily and looked down at her hand, where both suitcases were put into gently. Her smile lingered for a while longer before she spoke to him. "Komui-san, there is something I'd like to make a requisition for."

"What is it?" He asked. Usually, whatever she needed she would fill a form of requisitions and sent it to him through normal routes, but if Rei – who had been doing things regarding requests by the book so far – was the one to ask him personally, he had no choice but to listen.

"These past few days I've been looking at the reports and talking with those who were injured. Is it true that the Akuma seemed to be less aggressive?" She asked first, disregarding her request for materials. Komui frowned, and upon seeing that on his face, she smiled. "It's connected to what I'm going to ask of you, Komui-san. Don't worry."

"It's not that. I just don't see where this is going," He murmured, but quickly threw away the curiosity and replied her inquiry. "Yes. It seems like Akumas are focusing on something else. I imagine it might be the Owl. And it seems they were looking for something – or rather, _someone_."

"What someone?"

"Some heard the moniker – King, I think."

"Only that?" She asked, sounding slightly disappointed. "Did they try to find me? Or the Owl?"

"There has been no mention of your name. Not yet, anyway." Komui assured her. Of course, since she knew more than anyone here about the Owl, there is a good chance the Earl might want to question her. She realized this, too, and her worry was justified. But it seemed whoever this _King_ is; he's more of a concern to the Noahs than the Owl.

"I'm worried about the _King_ , however." She said, rubbing at her chin minutely as she started her thinking process. Her right broken arm twitched slightly as her concentration reached its peak. Komui is _always_ amazed by this – even though it was nothing different from how he was when he's deep in his own thoughts. "Who is he? Where did this name come from?"

"It seems like the Earl heard it from the Owl just a few days after you left." He mentioned, recounting the evens carefully. "Hmm, if I recalled correctly, the voice from the recording said as such; _The King is sleeping, but he will awake, eventually. When the time comes, the Order – even I – will be the least of your concerns. You'd better find him, or you'll go to hell while I laugh at you._ "

She remained silence.

"Akihiro-kun," Komui started, remembering something. "The Owl… it did said something about _Our Esteemed Old King_ , didn't it? It seemed like you know about that too. Or did you?"

She shook her head naturally. He knew then that she wasn't lying. "Sadly, I do not. She seemed to think that I'm turning, personality-wise, into her King. But one thing's for sure, is that she regarded _him_ with loyalty. I'm going to assume that the King is our enemy, too, just in case."

"So we've met another dead-end." Komui murmured. "And what about your request, Akihiro-kun?"

"Ah, that. It wasn't a requisition for _items_ , but rather, a person." She said and winked at him. Bringing out a folded piece of paper out from her trousers, she handed him a need-to-know-basis details of the person in question. "He is an extremely talented engineer who helped me years ago. We are very close, and since I heard Edgar-san is spear-heading a Limb Prosthesis program, I think that this person might be a good addition to the team."

Komui took a peak;

 _Galahad Kirk McCoy, 57 years old, native British_

 _Occupations – Automobile Engineer, Manager of Great Britain and European Spy Ring, Hand-to-hand combat expert_

"You didn't write this, did you?" Komui said absently. The handwriting was _too neat_ to be hers. He had seen Rei's before, and he can assure everyone and everything that hers are the _worst_ to look at, with letters coming out as pieces and scraps of papers and ink rather than an actual _letter_. For someone so… smart, and uncontestably beautiful, the things she wrote were just, to be frank, _unsavory, savage_ and just cruel to the eyes.

"I know, the neat-ness of the handwritings is just too obvious, isn't it?" She said with a merry laughter and scratched at her cheek sheepishly. "I did try to fix that. Sorry for failing. Regardless, I can assure you that the hand-to-hand combat expertise and spy ring manager part is 100 percent true."

"If he manages a spy ring like you claimed, it will be a great boon to us." The Chinese man surmised, smiling and folded the paper into his own pocket. "Is he your mentor before you came here?"

"Of sort, yes." She said with a sharp nod. "His style is… back-alley, using hands and feet combined with street experience rather than stances and forms. It makes me unpredictable, and efficient. It is quite useful, especially when most people tend to think that I fight by the books."

He won't ask about the _most people_ part.

"I think it's worth a shot." He finally replied, looking up at Hevlaska and waved her a goodbye as they walked back onto the elevator. He pressed the button for the Medical floor. She whistled at that. "I know you're going to go there, whether to check your own conditions or others. Try not to overdo things."

"I won't be able to even if I wish." She said and tapped at her casted arm with her suitcases. "But, if it makes you feel better, I will be taking my leave after the evening round is done. It's over halfway now, so I think it won't be too long… Well, unless _something_ happens."

"Let's hope _nothing_ does." He murmured. When the elevator stopped, Komui walked with her through the corridors, rather deserted at this time of the day since most either gathered for a meal or a training session. "I've heard some of your _reputations_ among the medical staffs, you see."

She paled and breathed almost comically, "Oh dear."

"You have quite a destructive luck for our staffs' and patients' health, Akihiro-kun." He teased and tapped her temple lightly. She rubbed it and pouted at him, to which he returned with a grin. His hand then reached for the crown of her head and rubbed it gently. "Thank you for your hard work, and _please_ don't exert yourself too hard. I don't want anyone dying because of _your_ unnaturally bad luck."

"Komui-san!" She exclaimed, not at all laughing, and stuck a tongue out at him. But her face relaxed not too long after. Rei bowed slightly when they reached the ward. "Thank you for your concern, Komui-san. I'll be sure to not overwork myself too much. I'll be seeing you around."

"Keep your conditions and the others posted," He said. "I'll be seeing you later then. Good day."

"And to you," She replied and pushed the door open with her shoulder. Before she crossed the door, she turned to him. "Komui-san, I forgot to give you the details about the research materials found in Kathmandu a month ago."

"So many things had happened, so it's not a surprise." He assured her. "Just give me a run down through written reports, and I'll contact you when I have a question."

"That sounds like a good idea." She said. "Alright, I'll be going now."

"Mhm. See you later."

Before he left, the back of his mind wondered why there were twinge of fear in her features back in Hevlaska's chamber, and he brushed it off as nothing.

* * *

When she walked into the room, Kanda instantly felt like he want to dig a hole ten feet deep and buried himself in it.

He still couldn't get over the fact that he had _kissed her_ , against her will.

And because of that, he almost failed to register the extra suitcase right next to _IXA_ as she walked briskly passed him, to the end of the room, and to the staffs' quarters. She disappeared back there for quite a while; five, ten minutes, and he still had not been called for checkups when she came back out, a long white gown draped over her shoulders.

"Good to have you back with us, Chief," Alexi, the doctor, said without looking up from the Beansprout's injured left arm. He glanced up a few seconds later and entered a half shock, half agitated stance. "Chief! What in the –"

"Occupation-related injuries," She said with a shrug and walked up to him, bowing until Allen could talk to her without having to look up too much. "And it seems I'm not the only one. How are you, Allen?"

"I'm alright, just straining my arm a bit too much, is all." He said dismissively and flexed his fingers experimentally. Kanda saw the younger male winched, and Rei noticed that, as well. Catching her mischievous eyes, Allen stammered, "Er, I mean it! It's just tired, is all. Just give it a rest –"

"You're as bad a liar as I am when it comes to medical problems." She said with a grin and tapped Alexi in the arm, silently ordering him to bring out from the steel chart a doctor's order sheet. "Give him some analgesic, and follow him up tomorrow."

"And the same to you?" Alexi said absently, his hands already signaling the nurse to bring him Rei's chart, probably. And Kanda had to look somewhere else to avert the male doctor's question gaze directed at him.

"Yes, please." She affirmed and sat across from Kanda, a faint smile gracing her lips as she used her left hand to drag his file – probably – out of the stacks of metallic charts. As if sensing his regrets and hesitation, she spoke. "I'm here as your doctor, not your colleague, Kanda-san. We can resolve _that matter_ after I'm done doing rounds. In a few hours, maybe?"

She made it sounded like an offer, whereas in reality she was stealthily telling him that if he doesn't go and straighten this out with her, _something terrible_ will happen.

That's what he felt, anyways. Still, who in their _right minds_ would try to step on her toes and incur her wraths? "…Whatever."

"So," She flipped her switched, again, and he just couldn't get used to it, no matter how many times it happened. "Let's see here… a bar fight…? That's just _ridiculous_. What happened?"

What really happened is that during his mission, some (by some he meant more than three) drunken bastard mistook him for a woman _(again)_ and wooed him. So he socked one in the face and nut-crack two more. The things that came next were messy and he'd rather not go into the details. To sum it up in a few words, however;

He _pissed_ someone, and started a bar fight that caused 70548 _pounds_ of goods and humans damages plus 37 wounded.

…Like he's going to tell her that.

"Someone pissed me off, so I start a fight."

"That escalated into more than 70000 pounds worth of property damages and compensations? I don't think so." She shot his lie down swiftly and ruthlessly, and so his cheap excuse was brought to a swift end by her sharp senses. He hated that about her sometimes.

"…Well…" He started, but Rei raised her hand to stop him from speaking any of his idiotic excuses and started mingling one papers with the others, tapping her pen annoyingly as she seemed to be processing some information. He opened his mouth again, but she didn't allow him to say a word.

"Let's take a look at your wounds." She stated flatly, tapping at Alexi's leg, gaining her his attention. "Alexi-san, after you're done with Allen's advices, can you help me? With this arm, I won't be able to do it."

"Sure," He replied without a trace of hesitation.

After she'd done with paperwork, she let him to the minor operating theater. He saw this as a good opportunity to talk to her, so once she closed the curtain and sat beside the bed to wait for Alexi, he started. "Akihiro –"

"Why?"

That was the first thing she said. And it took him by surprise.

"What…?"

"Why would you do _that?_ " She repeated, sounding more pained than anything else. He could feel something emanating from her. Not just the killing intent or the hatred. It was storms of so many emotions, mixing together. And that, judging from her looks, seemed to have confused her. Rei's voice was shaking, and so did her hands. "Why _me?_ "

"I –" He started, but finding himself unable to continue. She was glaring at him, her breathing becoming a bit erratic. Kanda waited quietly until she calmed down more before continuing, his mind racking at every memories he had to find himself a solution to this situation. "Akihiro, I'm sorry –"

"I'm not asking you to _apologize_ ," She cut him off again, her nails digging into her right arm, at the part without cast, and causing wounds on it. "I'm asking you _why_. Why?"

Confused. Lost. And Kanda couldn't understand why. Why would she be like this? It's just… as if what he did wasn't _kissing_ , but _exposing_ her secrets.

"I don't know." He stated truthfully. He knew full well that the _I-don't-know_ had a high probability of begetting her fury, but that's the only explanation he could come up with. He had no idea why he did what he did; only that he _felt_ like it was the right thing to do. "I thought – I _felt_ like… I just _wanted_ to –"

"It's a terrible, _terrible mistake_."

She gritted that out, trembling uncontrollably and glancing up at him. He could _not_ read her expressions, but he could see _fear_ flickering in her eyes. He tried to reach to her, only for Rei to (not so) gently slapped his hand away and shook her head. She calmed herself down by breathing in and out steadily and once her erratic breathing was in control, she said.

"Just forget… that anything has happened. Pretend nothing has ever happened between us. And _please_ , do not speak of this matter again."

"Akihiro –"

" _Please_ ," She said without looking at him. "Please."

He relented.

As heartless as he was, he couldn't bear watching her like this, so frail and fragile, so lost and confused.

He might pursue this at another time, but for now… he'll give her the rest she needed and deserved.

* * *

"You said it's under control."

"It was. Now it _isn't_."

Lavi heard voices from the darkest corner of the Library where he usually used as a sanctuary (to escape work, mostly) and he couldn't help but overheard the hushed whispers while he was picking the books. He recognized the latter's voice as Rei, and because of that, he had to take a peak.

There was another man, sandy hair and light blue eyes Allen had mentioned accompanying him and measuring his performance. The other was Rei, just as he thought, sitting on the chair with her head in her hands, body bending forward. He heard weary sighs escaped her as she attempted to maintain her rarely-broken composure.

"I'll tell the old man to bring the drugs in later this week." Aiden said, his whole body stiffened slightly. Lavi put down his books and leaned in closer, his single eye taking in the body language the man was expression. "We call pull some strings, you know, getting –"

She cut him off with a weak shake of her head, her face still hid behind her hands – which were shaking slightly, he noted – and her breaths shaky, uneven and somewhat forced. After a long silence, she said. "…No. Without work, I'll be more focused on it. That will make it deteriorate quicker."

"…Killing _her_ doesn't help?"

Her? Who is this _her?_ Lavi almost let those questions slipped, but he let it go for now. Busting his cover here will yield him no information. And what about this killing thing? Even though her manners and everything back when she was playing with fire (Lvellie) two weeks or so ago, he knew she wasn't the type to kill – at least without a reason. He had had his doubts, and he had talked with Kanda, sure, but the more he observed her, the more he realized that Rei always considered humans as allies, and that face she had shown back then was to the ones threatening her friends. Bookman hadn't let that slide, of course, but he already had.

His instinct told him so.

She shook her head again as an answer. After a shorter silence, she looked up at the man before her. Lavi couldn't see her expression, but whatever it was it must be _heartbreaking_ enough for the man – now he recognized to go by the name _Aiden_ – to hung back with eyes full of pity and self-resentment. "As long as… no, it will not help. Not when she still has the _roots_."

"If taking the roots out is as easy as slaughtering her," Aiden snarled under his breath, both hands curling into fists. "I'm sorry –"

"For what?" She shot back with a bitter laughter. "You've done everything you could to help me. It's me who should be saying sorry for causing you so much trouble, Aiden."

"The weights of my debts are too heavy for one simple favor to lift, Mistress." He addressed her with a hand motion then squat down until he was almost at her eye level, only falling short slightly. He looked up from where he was and took her hand in both of his. "I'm going to help you in any way I can. We all are going to, not just because we feel indebted, but because we _wanted_ to."

"You said it so badly I could laugh." She commented with a faint smile, placing her other hand on his larger ones and shook it slightly. "Thank you. I truly am, to all of you."

"You don't need to thank us, Ma'am." He said and retracted his hands as he stood up, dusting his knees. Fishing out a tiny book from his pants, he began flipping through the pages until he stopped and one and tapped at it with his fingers. "This… I can try using an excuse of the _requisition_ you mentioned to Komui-san to bring it here. Four days. You'll have to endure four more days."

She paused, frowning, and finally nodded. "If it's four… as long as I don't go out of my way too much, I think I'll be fine."

"But we know you're going to go batshit crazy and work so much you'll drop dead in the air by the third day." Aiden commented dryly, his blue eyes locking into her chocolate brown ones. Lavi noted the way his eyes moved and glinted, as if _searching_ for something.

She chuckled, relaxing and leaning back into her seat. "I think you might be right on that account."

"And you hate it when I state the _obvious_ , Ma'am."

"I don't _hate_ it." She denied weakly. "Just… _annoyed_ , at most."

"Admit it; you do hate me when I did that."

"No." She said firmly. Her eyes wandered up into the ceiling, then back to her hands, then to him, tilting her head slightly and worn an _I-don't-want-to-agree-to-this-but-I-can't-deny-it-either_ face. "Maybe," She murmured, and after a short glare from the man, she threw her hands up in the air. "Fine! You won, you _twat_ –"

It took all of Lavi's self-control to stifle his laughter from coming loose. He had never seen her actually _swear_ , and even then her swear is just _cute_.

She continued. "And don't think for a second I'm going to forget this, Aiden. Prepare your butthole for a crap load of work, now!"

"Please don't do that." His face paled considerably, but he retained his smile as he backed away. His face changed as he began speaking of the next topic in mind in such a manner that Lavi could've been fooled that those conversation beforehand was mere act. "Anyhow, Mistress, I've completed analyzing Master Walker's Innocence and physiological changes."

"Then what the hell are you waiting for?" She reprimanded. "Spit it out."

"Aye. The cellular structure of his Innocence is… _different_ from what I had originally thought." He began, flipping through the small notebook in his hand. "Cell walls made from calcium deposit like those of bones, only… mixed with more complex proteins and other minerals. The cells themselves are not so much different from a human, with an exception of its ability to produce energy – aside from the usual electron cascades; it used Innocence's power to _imitate photosynthesis._ "

"Imi – _what?_ " She blurted out. Half of what he's hearing is rubbish to him, who knew little of sciences. He'll have to dig through his halls of memories later to make senses of these. But that photosynthesis part, he couldn't miss. "Wait a second; so he's using _sunlight_ to produce… _power?_ "

"Yeah," Aiden shrugged. "But that happens only when he activated the Innocence to keep him from tiring out. Outside the battle, his cells used a _lot_ of energy to maintain that photosynthesis-like system – which is a hundred or so times more effective than plants', by the way – that's why his appetite was through the roof."

"Different." She mumbled, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Very different. Does he, you know… have the _cells_?"

"Yes, in the same amount as that of an average humans,"

What cells are they talking about now?

"I see." She muttered to herself, looking off to _his_ direction. He heard her said _'huh?'_ there, and Lavi came very close to being exposed. Luckily, their topic had led her away from him… for now.

"Does it differ from your expectations?"

"It's within, actually." She said, waving her hand and straightened her back ever so slightly. "Aside from that photosynthesis- _like_ system, anyway… Please do elaborate that on your reports. The cells… so it's true…"

She cut herself off. Well, at least it seemed like Aiden got her meaning and nodded in silent agreement. After she stopped fidgeting, the man continued. "I've got a meeting in half an hour, and the way's long so I'm going to wrap this up, if you don't mind."

"I've been _waiting_ for you to _summarize_ this, Aiden." She said with a flat face and a dry tone. "I give you thirty seconds. Go."

He hurried off, and Lavi barely hid in time as he briskly walked passed the isle he was hiding in.

After Aiden left, Lavi prepared to go, as well, only to be stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, squeezing tight enough to cause a slight tinge of pain.

"Lavi-san."

Her voice was devoid of emotion, and when Lavi turned to face her, he could see something in those eyes. Not anger, not frustration… but _something_ that he couldn't quite put his fingers on. He gave her the best sheepish smile he had as he slowly backed away, creating enough distance that her hand fell away from his shoulder. "Erm, look –"

"How much did you hear?" She questioned, straight to the point. She must have noticed him for quite some time now. How, though, he had no idea; Lavi can do this to Kanda without a problem! Upon his silence, she repeated her question, neutrality the only thing he detected in her voice. "How much?"

"The _you said it's under control_ part…" Lavi confessed.

He didn't know what she had expected, but her expression said enough. Her eyes squinted, her lips pressed into a thin line, and her overall posture slightly stiffened. He had expected her to threaten him to keep it a secret, even, but in the end she hadn't demanded any discretion from his part. Instead she nodded in defeat and sighed. "Of course you did…"

"Uh… do you mind me askin –"

"I do."

She cut him short with just that. Lavi immediately clamped his mouth shut.

Rei rubbed the bridge of her nose and turned to look at the deserted isles and tables, glancing back at him once, and gazed out the windows. She finally crossed her arms and murmured venomously. "Of course a Bookman like you would want to know everything. A word of warning, Lavi-san - eavesdropping on me again, and you'll find out that I'm not as kind as you might think."

She still spoke politely, but that silent promise of violence made his skin crawl in fear. But alas, his curiosity took over his common sense, and he blurted out before he could stop himself. "I don't really care about the analyzing parts, but what's _under control_? Are you going to be a liability to the Order?"

"For the last question only, _yes_ and _no_." She replied. "No because I have more than three countermeasures if _something_ were to happen. Yes because that something is as unpredictable as a God's whim."

"Then I have an obligation as an exorcist to report this to my superiors."

"Let me see you try, Lavi."

She dropped the suffix and turned to face him, her eyes glistening dangerously like when she fought with her red mask on. If she really was going to be a danger to the Order, he still had his obligations to report it, but he had a feeling that if he does, _something_ is going to happen. But – "What are you gonna do? Kill me and keep me here? Silence me through intimidations? I've been intimidated and tortured _before_ , you know. I doubt you can do much to stop me without resorting to murder."

She stared at him a moment longer and smiled deviously. "Oh, Lavi-san, you have not even _heard_ of a glimpse of things that can break a man. Would you like to try? That can be easily arranged."

"And here I thought my initial fear that you're not to be trusted is wrong. I guess my instinct was right, after all." He said. Although he had not predicted that she would react the way she did.

Her eyes had widen slightly, and something crossed her feature for a second – regrets, sadness, fear – before it disappeared as if it was never there. After a heartbeat longer, she sighed and nodded in defeat yet again.

"Do as you will. Even then, I'll still refuse to elaborate."

"Why?"

"You asked the same thing Kanda-san did." She avoided the topic and slowly led him to another one – nudging at his curiosity of another subject, and sent him astray. She really is something. But instead of waiting for his reply, she answered. "Have you ever had a secrets that will bring about ruins to all you hold dear if someone else knows of it, Lavi-san?"

He did. "Yes."

"It's _that_ kind of secrets. Something meant to be buried forever."

"But if it jeopardize the Order's safety –"

"I'll die before that happens."

Unlike Allen, who said that he will _stop_ it, and will let others killed him before he turned on the Order; Rei worded the same sentence differently. More pessimistic, with no real attempt to find a way to stop whatever disaster that will be caused by her without getting her head lopped off.

"That's… an interesting way to put it." Lavi murmured, and she gave him a forced smile in return. But he needed to make sure first. "What… what kind of countermeasures?"

"An executioner's blade is already around my neck should I… turn my teeth and claws against you." She said, unclasping the first button of her sleeveless exorcist uniform and brought out a silver necklace with a symbol at the end. The symbol was but a circle with one straight line coming down from the middle with its lower one-third split into two and landed at either side of the lower half of the circle, creating something like a triangle with curved bottom. There was a single black circle at the right side, and three diagonal lines no longer than the diameter of the circle on the left.

"That's… your executioner's blade?" He asked, silently asking for permission to examine it. She gave it without removing the necklace. The symbol was two or three coins' worth of thickness, and it clicked… "Wait, does this…?"

"The string is sharp enough to rip off my head, provided that the symbol there can retracted it at fast enough velocity, of course."

"Why would you not look for another way?"

"Because there isn't one," She murmured. "So, will you report still?"

He shook his head. Instincts at work, yet again. And he had learned by now that sometimes, that's all he needed. "Your earlier attempts to stop me aside, if you think you can't control it, you would've told Komui yourself. I'll trust your judgement here, Rei-chan. But if you were to endanger us –"

"Then you're free to do as you pleased." She smiled.

All he had heard was but a tip of an iceberg, but he would trust her judgement – although with a bit of doubt.

For her sake, Lavi thought, he'll dig into her secrets only if necessary.

There's no need to ask any more than that, for now.

After all, her expressions didn't betray her intentions in the slightest.

* * *

 _ **The last few parts, Lavi was being Lavi, not Bookman Jr. Should explain why he's a tad reluctant to expose her secrets, eh?**_

 _ **Well, I hope you enjoy it, and if you don't mind you can drop a review XD**_

 _ **Good day, kind sirs and ma'ams! See you next time!**_


	9. Chapter 9

**_Hello folks! 'nother chapter's here!_**

 ** _So sad I got no reviews for the past two months ;_; but hey, at least I still got readers, so cheers to that! :D_**

 ** _Annnyways, no action, little drama, more backstories in this one. It's actually pretty boring, if you've got to ask, but it's like laying the groundwork for the darker, bloodier scene in the next chapters, yah?_**

 ** _Anyway, Copenhagen. That's where we're heading! :D_**

 ** _Alright, let's go, and hope you enjoy it!_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter Nine: Investigation_**

"So you hailed from Hokkaido? I've heard you said Japanese, but your dialect certainly isn't one."

Lavi initiated a conversation as he plunged his fork into his mouth. It was early morning of January, the air was still somewhat chilly but not frozen, and the atmosphere was perfect for an idle conversation. Rei sat across from him, the right half of her part of the table held a plate of Udon with fried shrimp while the other was littered with files and papers. She made a face, wrote down – or rather, _scribbled_ – something into the papers.

"Not exactly. My parents left Japan when I was a toddler, and we lived in DC ever since. When I was four they both got killed by Akumas, and I met others who shared almost the same fate." She told her unfortunate tales rather casually, Lavi noted, as he leant in closer. "And so we started travelling around the globe. I got my degree in Medicine at University of Copenhagen, Denmark when I was around thirteen."

"That's a record age," He breathed.

"Someone else managed that at the age of five," She said casually, and laughed when he made a surprise expression. _Five? He was still talking shit back then!_ She waved her pen and picked up a piece of shrimp with her fingers and stuff it into her mouth in one go. "Anyway, I then moved to a nice grassland village in Holstebro. Something then happened, and I re-started peddling."

"And why did Komui assign us to revisit a place you once called home?" He asked, genuinely interested.

"Because that's where the Owl began."

"Ah."

She'll have to explain that to the others, sooner or later, so he supposed he could wait until then. But there's something he'd like to ask very much. It was as if she had a mind-reading ability – the way she smiled and started randomly (or not?) talking about her other Innocence. "The Narukami and IXA are my Innocences. I lost Narukami five years ago at the Owl's emergence, so… there you have it, the short story."

"What does it do?" He inquired. She replied by hurling the suitcase up into her lap and tapped at the handle, bright gold and _cackling with lightning_.

"IXA is the best shield, and Narukami – the _Lighitning God_ , mind you – is the best sword there is. Lightning is its element, allowing it for both close and long-range combats. It's unable to provide me protection, while IXA failed to deliver the strong attacks required for certain creatures. IXA did adapt to suit my needs over time, but alas, its firepower falls short compare to Narukami."

"You're so overpowered."

"If you know the cost I had to pay for the upkeep, you wouldn't have said that, I assure you." She said merrily and put the suitcase back down. She then swung her pen a bit too dramatically and put it down. "And that's the last patients' summary done! God, why are there so many…"

"If you bring yourself down a notch, I think you'd find it _easier_ to live." He commented. Knowing her, thought, he doubted she's going to heed his words.

"I can't just do that. It's in my blood."

"Of course you can't. This is just _so_ you."

"What is that supposed to mean, Lavi-san?"

"Nothing, nothing!" He shouted defensively, waving his hands about (or rather, _flailing about_ ) before settling down when she chuckled at him. "I'm surprised though, that the town still lives. If the Earl had caught with of _all of these_ , I don't think there'll be anything left for us to investigate."

"Luckily for us, the townspeople are pretty clever. They paid money to the right people, and intimidate the others who can't be bought with money to keep the authorities' mouth shut." She said matter-of-factly. Geez, and here he thought she was just a simple woman. She seemed to have acquainted herself for quite a bit with the _shadows_ – namely all the black markets dealings.

Well, he ought to keep that in mind, Lavi thought.

"I'm not going to pry into that." He muttered, finishing the last bite and leant on his elbow. Rei swept all the papers into one giant stack, tidying it up by knocking it against the table a few times and re-start eating her meals. "I ain't surprised the old man is so wary of you. And boy, did you talk about it like commenting on the weather or something."

"It's awkward enough talking about it." She laughed. "Not that my face really shows, but trust me, it's not comfortable saying those things."

"Liar."

She stuck out her tongue at him, like a child pouting at her friends.

Cute.

"How's the arm anyway, Rei-chan?" Lavi asked. Her arm, which was covered in but elastic bandage, was raised in respond.

"It's fine now. The bandages were wrapped around my arm rather tightly, a courtesy from our in-house orthopedist. I'll be fine in the field, fret not."

"Well, then", He nodded in acknowledgment and stood up when she ate the last piece of her meal – and he noted that she ate at Allen speed, too, not that she ate as much as that boy does – and put down her utensils. "Are we ready?"

"Yes we are." She affirmed. "Let's go."

* * *

After they arrived in Copenhagen, they went to the nearest carriage station and hired the citizen of Holstebro – who Rei knew, too – for a ride.

While waiting for the rider to prepare for the journey, estimated to take at least a few days, Rei loaded IXA into the carriage and joined him in his attempt to gather information on the Owl in these parts.

"Why did you bring only one Innocence, though?" Lavi asked as they trekked across the cobblestoned pavement of Copenhagen, stopping just short of the entrance to University of Copenhagen.

"It's because there are no reports about Akumas, or any disturbances, around this part of the Earl. Mostly, I think, is because of its isolation and its… strange system. Politicians here are… rather extraordinary, if you asked me." She replied as they walked pass the gate. She used her status as an Alumni (he heard some girls at the reception squeals at her name, too) to get them in.

"And what if the Owl appears?" He asked.

"Hmm… even if I have Narukami with me, just the two of us alone might not be enough. We'll have to flee, regardless of our circumstances." Rei said. "And escaping with one weapon is easier than two. I've proved this before."

"Makes sense." Lavi said, putting both hands behind his head and laid back in the air slightly, enough to feel comfortable but not too far as to lose his sense of balance. She led them through halls after halls of lectures, with students filling every seat and professors educating them at every room. He peaked his head into one of them to see the lecture about anatomy and –

He reeled back at the sight of a freshly dead human being, laid on the table with the muscles and sinews of his arm bared to the air. Students flocked all around the table while the lecturer showed them one point of (supposedly) important anatomy to them.

From his side, Rei chuckled.

"Why do you seem so surprised, Lavi-san?"

"I have studied some basic things about human's anatomy before, but… I did it like any other Bookmen. You know, _image training_ and stuff." He replied, his eye never leaving the cadaver. It's probably the first time he'd seen one of those on the table. It's strange; not like the recently killed in battle, but a withering one, preserved through chemical means.

"I see," was all she said as she signaled for him to stop and poked her head in through the door, still unnoticed by its occupants. Her eyes seemed to be scanning for something – _someone_ – and it stopped at another (seemingly) senior professor in the room.

He was slightly… well, let's just say he's quite _well-nourished_ , with his grayed mustache and almost-bald head standing out. He had the manner of a noble, the eye of the inquisitor, and the bearings of a scholar. He still had his eyes on the lecture, but once he glanced at the door way, he spoke with unmasked joy at the sight of Rei.

"Ah! Akihiro! It's been a long time!"

All eyes trained on them, and Lavi instinctively fell back. Rei gave him a wink and mouthed _excuse me a moment_ before walking in, arms open as she walked in casually. "It's been years, Professor Erik!"

"Come on in, come on in, and share your knowledges with these whelps!" He barked out an uncharacteristic laughter. Rei gave Lavi a sheepish look (to tell him to head for the library ahead of her, seemed like) before turning to her juniors (who were actually _at least_ three or four years older) and started talking about things Lavi couldn't really understand.

So he was left alone in an unfamiliar place, navigating through foreign halls and balconies, in an _attempt_ to find a never-before-seen Library.

Even with perfect visual perception like his, he can't just operate shit in a complete unknown fucking condition, dammit.

It took him several moments (replace that with _hours_ , Lavi thought sourly) to find the library. It's grand, one of the biggest he had ever seen. And he had visited more than a hundred of such places; this actually impressed him. The building, while connected to the lecture halls, was categorized as another building altogether due to its gigantic size. The marbled walkways reflected light from the pale sun into his eye, and the walls and ceilings, decorated with warm light from the lanterns and chandeliers, were a sight to behold.

Luckily enough, Rei had given him her Alumni emblem's _copy_ , allowing him to pass through the guards almost instantly. After fumbling around the counter for any information about the Owl, he was sent to the documentation sections deep in the library, obviously managed by a strange man.

So he followed the librarian directions through rows after rows of ancient books until he ended up at the impossibly dark and deserted sections. The floor here was littered by papers much like Komui's office. Lavi could hear sounds of shuffling pages, so he followed it until he was greeted by a man in black suits, his hands busy navigating through pages and papers, his eyes hidden behind his round glasses.

"Um…" He began, unsure of what to do, but was stopped by a finger in the air.

"Please be quiet for a second, I'm thinking."

"…Okay?"

For what seemed like an eternity, everything stopped. The searing freezing wind swept through the room as the man's concentration peaked.

And then it dropped, retuning everything to normal as if nothing had changed.

"How may I help you?" The man asked with a smile, pushing his tiny round glasses up to reveal his smiling eyes. His neat side-cut, light-blond hair waved slightly as he spun around.

"Oh, um, I was looking for reports. I heard you gather information about myths and such here?" Lavi shook off the feeling of unease and grabbed his hammer instinctively. Feeling the warmth and the silent hum of his weapon, he relaxed a little. "Ah, right. I was looking about… some giant monster with one eye, four arms with two of 'em being fucking –"

"Watch your language here, boy."

"– Ah, sorry. With two of the arm being blade-like and super big?" He finished hurriedly. The anger that had come was gone like the wind, and the strange man dove himself into a pile near the window.

Lavi tapped his finger impatiently, waiting for the reply.

It came in forms of flying papers and books.

"That's all I can dig up. Mostly eye witnesses who claim to have seen gigantic beast with one eye. You can read the rest yourself, can you not?"

"Sure, sure."

Geez, what a _friendly_ guy.

The man's eyes lingered on him for a moment before he returned his attention to the books before him, mumbling senseless words to himself as he slowly walked off to another aisle. Lavi gazed after him until he was out of sight before picking up the thrown files and books, gathering them all in both arms and dumped them down on the nearest table.

Now, to get himself into _the zone_.

 _June 23th 1885, Holstebro. Several traveling merchants report a large fire starting in the village at the edge near the ford by the far west creek. Villages claimed it was a monster, and that it had fled. More than twenty casualties and thirty two injured noted._

 _July 1_ _st_ _, 1885, Storaen Creek. Several citizens mauled by unknown being. Jaw sizes and claw marks indicated a single animal with at least two tons muscle strength and 70 centimeters in jaw length. Eye witnesses claimed they saw one blood-red eye. Case frozen due to death of lead investigator Johanne Brooks._

 _July 17_ _th_ _, 1885, Copenhagen University. 12.37 am, janitors and students in the dorm reported total destruction of medical science and engineering wing. Unknown culprit. Eye witnesses claimed quadrupedal beast with one eye._

These reports were all the same; eye witnesses, marks of monsters, and one eye – it was quite different from the one General Nine captured. That thing had one main eye, sure, but there were more than a dozen in its face, and it was clearing not quadruple. That confirmed Rei's words that the Owl had the ability to _change the body_ , as long as said body had a part of the _Original_ in it which, he thought grimly, complicated a lot of things.

All these reports were in its early day of activities, so at least for the first year after its emergence, Lavi could track its activity down. So he did, reviewing the files, specifically that of the first year, slowly writing down the details of the attacks and sightings in his attempt to connect the dots.

As it turned out, there were two types of assaults the Owl committed; one was random, without specific goal in mind, only to cause havoc. The other cause, however, was directed against specific places, with the goal being destructions or disappearances of certain people or objects. The places most attacked are the village Rei mentioned she hailed from, Copenhagen University, and Storaen creek, western side.

What was it trying to do? Gathering information on Rei?

"Here you are, Lavi-san."

He was brought out of his near-uninterruptable concentration. Looking to the side, he saw Rei walking towards him with a few books in her arms and a slight, tired smile on her face. Placing the books on the vacant chair and seating in the other, she said. "From your expression, I'm going to have to apologize for disturbing your attention to the evidences, am I not?"

"You don't have to." Lavi said with a shrug, drawing a few more lines across the sites of attacks, separated in red and blue colored pens. He then turned the book he used (it was his own, not the Library, don't worry) and pointed at the small village she's in. "The first attack was documents. Seems like you can't shut the mouths of travelers, after all."

"That, we cannot." She agreed, tracing her finger carefully along the map, mumbling something to herself. She mumbled louder at certain parts. "And here, the Creek… attacks… Johanne-san's death froze the case close, I am well aware of that one. Let's see here… Copenhagen?"

She seemed puzzled by the attacks happening in Copenhagen. It wasn't that surprising that she would be, considering that she moved out of Denmark soon after the emergence – as she had told him during their waiting time at the Ark gate. So he smiled slightly and fished photos of the attacked sites, selecting the ones he thought would be the most relevant to the case.

"Medical wings, engineering, and science – it's attacking the place you've at least paid a visit. If it doesn't know you by talking, I'm guessing it knows you by the scent of smell. That explains why it was still around for you to kill it a second time. This is no coincidence; it's gathering information on _you_."

"I suspected as much." She murmured. "As… _inconsistence_ as my memory may be, I had come to that conclusion the moment I met it in Nepal. What are the chances of meeting the same individual you had not have any contact for the past five years, _two times_ in a row?"

"True, that." Lavi nodded. "Wait a bit, I've gotta memorized these first. The panda will want to know this for future reference."

"I'll give you fifteen. The driver just told me he had finished his preparations." She said, resting her cheek against her palm and looked out the window, ignoring the strange man Lavi had talked to earlier.

"Well, it won't take too long." He mumbled, only half listening to her now as his concentration peaked yet again, his eye scanning the pages and photos rapidly. Surprisingly enough, she didn't mention the abnormal speed in which he skimmed through the material, instead she watched silently, thinking,

It's not often a Bookman would find someone with decent enough intelligence to follow through with one's thought processes.

After ten or so minutes had passed, he closed the final book and rested it by the pile at the corner and sighed, leaning backwards. "Ah, I'm finished. It's actually more confusing than I think it would."

"Still, you remember that quite well." She said with a smile. "It'd take me _hours_ on end to devour all that. After all, _photographic memory_ is a rare condition with nary a handful being able to retain the ability after entering adulthood."

He blinked. "You know about that?"

She laughed. "I'm a physician, Lavi-san. Of course I do."

"Then you must also know about all the _skepticism_ this eidetic – _photographic_ – memory thing stir in your line of work, yes?" Lavi asked, leaning forward to match her posture. Most of the time, it made people more… _open_ to him; psychological trick, if you may.

"I'm well aware." She affirmed. "However, I have no doubt you have one of those. Your Bookman training aside, I think you actually have the ability to vividly recall details of the things you've seen. Otherwise you won't be able to discuss things with Komui-san or Alexi-san as fluently as you had."

"Heh." He grinned. "Now I know why I like you."

"That would be a wrong notion." She winked. Upon his confused look, Rei took a moment to elaborate. "Well, you don't exactly _like_ me. You're just _curious_. I'm a rare thing for you, something you don't know, something mysterious – humans are drawn to things like that. Even you, the Keeper of the Books, can only tamed your nature down, not destroy it."

Keeper… of the Books –

"How did you know we're called that?" His voice suddenly turned venomous – a defense mechanism, something he hadn't intended to use – and it took him several moments to notice that. He forcibly calmed himself down and _tried_ to ask with a more light-hearted tone. It turned out as strangled duck's noise instead. "That name is well-guarded."

"Information is power, Lavi-san." She said with a wink again. "You see, some of your kinds… are interested in hidden aspects of the war. I myself had served as neutral war zone's medic, so I heard many things; rumors, orders, that sort of information. Sometimes things got interesting, and that Intel is the currency I used with your people to trade for information I sook."

Ah. He had heard about that before, the old man saying something about the trading of information from different parts of the world. But, if he was to guess, she couldn't have worked alone. She must at least have some contacts, informants, or _partners_ to gather something interesting enough in the eyes of secret-seekers like the Bookmen.

"I guess I'll have to find information on you, too." He grinned devilishly, only to be matched by hers. "Information ring is fun stuff, isn't it?"

"It sure is." She chuckled, looking off the window. "Ah, our ride is here. Let's go join him, shall we, Keeper of the Book?"

He grinned back and took her offered hand, standing up. "Alright, you sneaky little shadow broker."

* * *

"Fuck that woman! _Fuck that woman!_ "

Tyki snared as he paced around the room, his footsteps loud and uneven. His golden eyes flickered to his left arm, covered in bloodied bandage. Even after so many days, the wounds her lightening sword-shit still hadn't heal, and he found it painful to even flick a finger. Even Road who was immune to physical damage was somehow _hurt_ , thoroughly shocked and out cold during their little skirmish with that exorcist and the Owl.

Road shared his sentiment, but she knew she is practically useless against that accursed woman – she had tried bringing that bitch into her Dream, and her personal dream was shattered in a matter of seconds. From what she had told him and the Earl, the woman seemed to have _seen much worse_ than what Road showed her. To think that a random exorcist's mind was stronger than even that of Bookman (apprentice's) was surprisingly terrifying.

"How is the arm, Tyki?" Lulu bell asked, legs still crossed as she watched them both with eyes hidden behind her sunglasses. Road slept on her lap, her brows furrowed together as she shifted. "I've never seen Road like this before."

"Nor have I." He muttered and bit his thumb's nail. His left arm twitched, and he grunted in pain. "Every time my Noah power surfaced, it _shocked_ me. Fuck that woman. What did she do to _us_?"

"That's not the only thing you should be concerned about." She said, earning her a glare from him. She quickly reasoned herself out of it. "Not only did she able to outwit you two – even if that was with the help of the Owl – this woman _knows_ about the King."

"King?"

"The King that Owl mentioned in their banters," She elaborated. "It said while it's turning its fangs toward that woman that ' _I'm starting to get bored, waiting for the King to wake up. Why don't you, rabbit?'…_ That means –"

"That woman _knows something_." He snarled. "She knows fucking something about the damn King this Owl keeps talking about. We have to _question_ her for this. We _will_ question her and make her pay."

"We need a plan, first and foremost." Lulu Bell chided, her eyes flickered to his face, then Road, then back at him. He relented and nodded in agreement. The Earl, too, had said that they have to be careful. This Akihiro Rei… whoever she was, being this powerful without any of them even hearing about her is just way too ridiculous.

"What about Sheryl?" He asked absently. When he first came back with Road unconscious in his arms, that crazy-assed bastard had gone into a fit of rage and destroyed two dozen Level Four in the room. It was quite a sight.

"We had to sedate him with… let's just say one of our suppliers had to close that section in their pharmacy department for him."

"I see."

"I see you are able to move now, Tyki-pon."

The Earl's soothing voice cut through the recently silenced conversation. Tyki glanced at him, his uninjured hand rubbed against the soaked bandages for a few strokes. Upon his entrance, Lulu Bell straightened up and bowed her head deeply. "Welcome back from the party, master."

"Thank you, Lulu." The Earl said, clasping his hands behind his back. He wasn't wearing the usual fat-pig costume, so Tyki supposed he'll have to head out again very soon. "How are you?"

"Hurts when I use my power." Tyki replied, flexing his fingers and elbow, only to scrunch his face up in pain as electricity jolted him out of his comfort zone and almost threw him off his feet. His golden eyes then flickered to Road, still sleeping (not so) soundly. "And Road is… tired, becoming strange. I've never seen anything like this."

"It reminds me… of _Apocryphos_."

"…What?"

Apocryphos, the Independent Innocence Tyki had only heard about. Sensing his puzzlement, the Earl stepped closer and sat by Lulu Bell, his hand caressing Road's spiky hairs passionately. "Apocryphos – the _Hidden One_ – can damage beyond Road's physical body. He can reach towards her Dream. That made him her nemesis, _our nemesis_ , because his ability precedes any of those filthy humans… and now, this Akihiro Rei seemed to have similar ability."

"Then we've got to wipe her off the board." Tyki gnarled.

"Yes, all the more reason to. Aside from that, she seems to know about this King the Owl kept spouting about, as well. It might do us good to _capture_ , rather than kill her." The Earl said, his expression blank. He frowned slightly as he continued. "I don't want to leave her alive, but she knows more than she had let on. We _need_ her alive to figure out _anything_ about this Owl."

"At least we can torture her." Tyki commented. "It can't be that bad."

"Then I shall send something to scout ahead." Lulu Bell offered and carefully pried Road off her lap. "My informant told me he saw someone who matched the description of Akihiro Rei."

"Please do, but don't make any attempts." The Earl muttered. "We'll bring every last one of us who's _humiliated_ by her to settle the score later. For now, we need to know what she's capable of in order to plan accordingly."

Oh, how he's looking forward to the day.

* * *

The ride took a few days, but other than the incredibly tiresome experience, there was nothing worth noting.

Well, except for how she was unaffected by _any sort of road bumps_.

"Rei-chan," He called her as he doubled over by the hind wheel, a hand to his mouth in an attempted to stifle the upcoming lunch. She turned to look at him, her luggage in her left hand and IXA thrown over her shoulder. After she gave him an inquisitive look, he continued. "How can you – ugh."

"I have antiemetic, if you'd like." She offered, ignoring his question. Lavi had no choice but to nod. She set her cases down and dug into a tiny compartment, fishing out a pill bottle. She threw him a white pill and a flask of water. "That should help you recover from motion sickness."

"Thanks… how you're not affected eludes me." He said with great difficulty as he gulped down the pill and rested his arms on his thighs, his head hanging limply. "How long until it'll work?"

"A few minutes," She replied, looking only a bit amused at Lavi's unfortunate predicament. Her chocolate eyes then flickered towards the village before them. They arrived quite late in the night, so it's not much of a surprise that only guards were walking about. "Hmm, this is strange…"

"What's strange?"

"Hmm?" She hummed questioningly. Upon realization, she smiled and waved her finger. "Ah, it's nothing. Just… five years, and I forgot about this place already. It's… changed."

"Of course it does." The driver said, heaving the last crate of supplies he brought in for the village off his carriage. "After you went after that thing, we rebuild. And since you always sent us a hefty sum of money every now and then, we make a few… _improvements."_

"I'm sorry for all those... lost…" Rei said, sadness clear in her voices and eyes as she hid the rest of her face in the darkness.

"We know the risk. We take it anyway." The driver said. "And even if we can rewind back time, we'll still carry out the same decisions, Ma'am."

"I'm sorry." She repeated, and changed the subject with a forced sigh. "Oh, well… for the night, we should head for the inn. We'll begin gathering information tomorrow, if that sits right with you, Lavi-san."

Lavi, now recovered from the churning of his stomach, affirmed. "Yeah. I'm not in a condition to go questioning –"

His last word turned sour, and he had to run to the nearest bush.

"It seems the medicine can't stop that one."

"No shit, Rei-chan." He said through tightly-sealed mouth, in a futile attempt to spill no more of his lunch onto the ground. Seriously. He understood why the driver would be so indifferent, but Rei shouldn't – _couldn't_ – have been _fine_ with all those bumps. Just _no_. "No shit. Ew."

"Let's head to the inn first so you can get some sleep. You should feel better after lying down." She surmised and threw her luggage at the driver before grabing Lavi's, tossed aside on the ground when he went for the _release_ , and walked ahead. "It's the building with two-colored lanterns. You'll know which."

"A'ight, go on ahead." He said with a wave. "Ugh, this is _uncomfortable_."

"I'll be seeing you shortly, then."

"Yeah."

She joined the driver and made their way into the village. Well, to be frank, he would call it a _town_ , since there were so many organized building made of cements and bricks. There was a marketplace – large and located in a garden-style opening – in the distance, and the town hall (ahem, _village hall_ ) stood tall and proud in the middle.

The way she talked to the driver meant that she must've had quite a bit of history with this place. Maybe he'll ask her about it today, maybe tomorrow, depends on the circumstances. But for now, he'll have to care for more than a tummy ache (saying that made it sound insignificant, but trust him, it ain't) and headache. After what seemed like hours to him, the drug finally kicked in, and the cramps he felt lessened.

He straightened up and ruffled his hair. Pushing the bandana up enough so his vision was cleared again, he took a look around, a bit more perceptive. Even though only guards and sometimes night workers roamed the dark, the houses and halls were lit brighter than the morning sun, and he could here talks and cheers from the inside. The guards stopped and talked with other kinsmen once in a while, while others simply made a round and disappeared.

"And you called _this_ a village, Rei-chan." He mused. "More like a town."

"It was a village before she arrived."

The one who answered his witty remark was an old man. He wore but a simple garb, his head void of any hair and his beard long and magnificent. He watched in bemusement as Lavi scrambled to his feet. Dusting the dirt he didn't know how it got there off, he regarded the man with a nod. "If I'm going to assume anything, I'd say that you're the chief?"

"Aye, that is true." He nodded in respond. "The ride is pretty comforting, yes?"

" _Comforting?_ " He half-shrieked at this. No wonder where Rei got her immunity from. But saying it's comfortable is just _outrageous!_ "How is that comforting in any manner?"

"It isn't to you?" The old man voiced his surprise. "It felt like a rocking chair to me. But enough of that – welcome to our humble settlement, exorcist."

"Ah, yeah, it's good to be here." Lavi said, rubbing the back of his neck in an attempt to soothe his nerve. He could hear river flowing in the distant. It seemed the current carved a path all around the village. He wondered how it would look like from the distance at sunrise. "It's a bit late now, so I'll hold my question to myself for tomorrow. You'll be free, right?"

"Aye, I will be." He bowed. "Rei must've reached the Inn by now. If I know her well, she'll probably head to the meadow to the west of here. You should go check on her."

"Can you lead me to the Inn, then?"

"Certainly."

It was a short walk, only a few minutes away from where they landed. The old man walked quite swiftly for someone is age, and Lavi had to stride at his normal pace to keep up. The inn itself was a splendid settlement, looking no less imposing and grand than the town hall itself. He whistled before thanking the man and went inside.

The receptionist greeted him and gave him the room number, situating in the third floor, next to the stair. The door was left unlocked, and the room was unoccupied when he got it. _IXA_ rested beside the bed near the door with Rei's black overcoat draped over the chair neatly. Next to the dimly-lit light bulb by the table was her signature red mask. Lavi sighed and located his luggage, which rested near the sofa by the window.

He might go look for Rei, but… as it was, just contacting her with a golem might be enough. It's a rare opportunity for her to lay off her work, after all. So he kicked off his boots, clicking his golems, and dropped himself down to a rather comfortable bed.

 _"_ _So you've found the inn."_ She said, amused. _"How are you now? Better yet?"_

"Yeah." He breathed, rolling to the side. "Where are you?"

 _"_ _There's a nice clearing not far from the village. There are fireflies here, too, for whatever that's worth."_ She said softly. From the rustling leaves and her calm voice, Lavi could tell she enjoyed the change in scenery. _"That reminds me; have you met with the old chief yet?"_

"Yeah. He's the one pointing me to the inn." He said. There was a pregnant pause as his brows furrowed and something struck him. "Wait a minute –"

 _"_ _Yes, I asked him to guide you, in case you got lost or fainted from vomiting your meals onto the ground."_ She answered his unspoken question. There was something shifting the in the background. _"You might want to ask him about me and the Owl first thing in the morning."_

"Will do." He echoed. "What about you?"

 _"_ _There's no point for me talking to the good people here anymore, since I was with them five years ago. However, there are some…_ _ **trails**_ _left behind when I first fought the Owl. I'll go check on that while you gather information from the people of this place._ "

"So I'm here to dig your history up, ain't I?" Lavi mused. "Maybe they saw something after you left. I'll ask that for ya, Rei-chan."

 _"_ _Much appreciated."_ She said. _"After the chief, I suggested you talk with the good nurse, Morgan. She took care of me while I was out, so I think she'll have something of use."_

"Morgan, noted. Who else?"

 _"_ _Just ask around. One person will usually point you to the other, and so on."_ She seemed a bit amused at that. After recovering from her chuckles, Rei continued. _"This will serve as a way for you to record history, as well. After all, you Keepers of Books love secrets, aren't you?"_

"That's not wrong." He said hesitantly.

 _"_ _When we get back to the Order, would you kindly speak to the others about your discoveries in my place? I'd rather not think too much about what had happened in the past. They're bad memories."_

"Will do, will do." He said, staring up into the ceiling. So whatever happened must've hit her _very_ hard. And if he knew her, he'd wager that it's something that could easily break a man. "So, we'll meet tomorrow at sundown, eh?"

 _"_ _Yes,"_ She responded. _"We'll meet again at sundown. Gather knowledges at your leisure, Lavi-san. See you tomorrow_."

"Yeah, See ya."

* * *

 _ **Yeap... fillers! Cliffhanger, too, because why not! HAHAHAHAHA -**_

 ** _*cough*_**

 ** _Anywho, you guys take a guess who the 'man in the round glass' is, because you know... quote from Cinema Sins; Details, man, they ARE important ;)_**

 ** _So, I hope you enjoy the chapter, and drop a review on your way out too if you feel like it XD_**

 ** _Any questions are welcomed, too, just... I'll never spoils the stories for ya XD_**


	10. Chapter 10

**_Hello, dear friend! 'Tis me! And here's the new chaps!_**

 ** _Sorry for the long wait tho XD I deserve to be BURNNNNNNNNN_**

 ** _*cough* not really..._**

 ** _Thank you Shadow of the Fire Bird for your kind reviews ;) and to all you anonymous readers out there too! =) Go ahead and happy reading!_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter Ten: A Strange Turn_**

"Ah, I'm so tired."

Lavi breathed out the moment he reached their room (why would this village has but one room left, just like all the others, he had no fucking idea) and dropped down onto the bed, face-first. The sun was only half-way down from the sky, and by God, these people knew how to answer to the point. He did appreciate that, but he oh-so-missed the small talks.

Rei chuckled from where she was, seated at the sofa by the window with her glasses on and a book on her lap. She took off her glasses, put the book – well, _tome,_ more like – down and crossed her legs on the coffee table before her. "I supposed they didn't stray from the topic all too much?"

"No, they didn't. That's why it's super _boring_!" He complained, rolling onto his back with a hand pressed on his forehead. Glancing to the tall wine glass and a bottle by her side, he noted. "You drink?"

"Only a bit. Red wine, at best three glasses a day." She answered, touching the bottle and spun it around, showing off the label. " _Cabernet Sauvignon,_ "

"I prefer _Syrah_ , more. But too each her own, yeah?" Lavi said, springing up and tried his best to set his now messy hair into shape. He took of his headband and watched as Rei smiled at him – _creepily_. "What are you smiling at?"

"Oh? Ah, I was wondering what kind of comments you would make." She replied with a warmer and less chilling smile. With a sighed, she elaborated to clear the puzzlement from his face. "I accompanied you here, after all, so I am quite certain they'd tell you almost everything there is to know. So?"

"They still keep something secrets, if that's what you're worried about." He commented, now turning his body to fully face her. "But not many people were there to see the end of the fight. Those who did either die or leave this place… that means you'll have to fill in the blanks for me."

"Not necessarily." She replied. "Tell me what you know, and I'll add something in as necessary. Knowing too much can be harmful, you do realize that, yes?"

"Are you threatening me?" He said jokingly. Well, _almost_.

"Of course not!" She exclaimed, seemingly surprised by his comments. Rei's look softened as she smiled forcefully at him. "But I'd rather something not known, you see. Old wounds are not healed, yet."

"I understand, I was just joking." He raised both hands. "But some parts of the story, I wasn't sure if you've heard yet. The one-month-incapacitated part?"

"I'm high on morphine for most days." She replied, her nose scrunched up and her eyes narrowed. There was clear sign of annoyance in her eyes. Lavi dully remembered that during the time, she told Lvellie she didn't remember much. Now it made sense. "So if there's anything, I'll need you to fill me in."

"Alright, here goes nothing,"

Lavi breathed in, breathed out, and flipped his inner switch. Now that his focus was directed towards the information he had gathered during the day, he recounted the events, both for himself and for her sake.

* * *

... _Six years ago, the village was smaller than, but as closely knitted, as it was today. The young doctor prodigy came by a year prior, and she changed everything here, for the better. Protecting them from bandits and thugs and occasional monsters, serving as their personal physician and teach them sciences and music._

 _They didn't know much about her, because most often than not she kept it to herself, whether it was her worry or her pain. Sometimes the villagers could hear her screams, in the dead of night, and it became more and more frequent. At first, it was only once a week, or less. Then it struck her more and more, draining at her mind, refusing her the refuge of sleep._

 _During that time, she had but a few companies who visited once a month. One of them was a man with sandy hair, who stayed with her six months after. The other two, no villagers could see, were as close as a family, always laughing and chatting at every opportunity they met. But that didn't change the fact that she always kept it to herself, talking much less to the others in the village than she had with her companions._

 _She then suddenly disappeared for a few weeks, only to return soaked in blood that wasn't hers, battered and broken. No one knew what happened, for she didn't step foot out of her room ever since. Not until that day –_

 _–_ _23_ _rd_ _June, 1885, her house exploded and erupted into flames._

 _Some villagers tried to get to her, but they were stopped when a massive beast with one eye shadowed over them, grinning mischievously as it looked down upon the unarmed denizens. The sandy-brown haired man dragged her, half-dead with blood covering more of her than her skin, out of the house with two suitcases in hands. He quickly instructed them to run, but it was too late._

 _The demon was fast for its size, and some of the braver men in the front were either devoured or tore into ten different pieces. They screamed and ran, with but a few handful staying back in their fruitless attempts to rescue the doctor they barely knew on a personal level. She had done so much good to the village that they couldn't just ignored it._

 _In her frail state, she did was she could to cover them, shooting lighting from her golden blade at the beast when she could barely lift an arm, all possible with the help of her close company. However, the beast found little amusement in her meddling, and struck her and the man apart, one landing in the fountain while the other hit the wall hard._

 _Yet she stood, against the beast, barely breathing and just at the edge of sweet unconsciousness._

 _A few hunters stood by her side, but they were quickly dealt with by the red quills. No one saw what happened after that, for they had all headed for a safe place to hole themselves in._

 _And once they returned, eight hours later, there were but scraps of the beast and a giant, white, three-clawed arm that remained, and Rei was unconscious on the ground, covered in many grave wounds, losing too much blood to retain her consciousness._

 _The man was already at her side by the time any of them returned, and he was more panicked than the rest of them did. He didn't plead for their help, nor ask a favor of them. He instead tried his hardest, using what he had on his body, to nurse her. The villagers knew that the destruction of their homes were partly her doings, but how could they blame her so when she threw her life in front of that abomination to cover their escapes?_

 _Edmund, also a doctor who graduated from the same university and at the same time as she was, offered to aid her, the best he could. The villagers helped in any way they can, hunting for food as they usually did, finding herbs and buying any useful medicines and ingredients while the good doctor and Rei's mysterious company took care of her._

 _Her wounds were extensive, and instead of red, they bled blackened blood, like tar. She wasn't even awake most of the time, either fallen asleep from all the morphine she was given, or from the sheer exhaustion and pain her wounds caused her. Without a way to transport her without harming her – hence, the roads to their village were no joking matter – they were forced to work with a rather limited resources and equipment._

 _Her companion, however, seemed to have some strings in the inner circles of the world, as he managed to procure advanced medical equipment from faraway places he hadn't had any mind to name. But they're not to pry in his private matter, for that wasn't their businesses._

 _From what the good doctor told them, she always had bad dreams whenever she fell asleep, forcing her awake at the moment she began to fall into deep, restful slumber. Her inability to rest for even a day made her condition grew worse, rather than better, and they had spent quite a fortune (well, it was the mysterious man's fortune) to nurse her back to health._

 _But even then, she never fully recovered. Something changed. Something that rooted deeply in her spirit had changed. And it was eating her alive._

 _After that, she left the village, in an attempt to eliminate the beast for good. They objected her, but she said nothing, only a smile. Afterwards, once in every while, she would send some gold that, if counted to the present, would allow them all to buy an island of their own._

 _That, and they heard little more of her._

* * *

"You…" Lavi said at last, after finishing recounting the details from the villagers – with them saying little details, but enough to make up a story – and look at Rei, who purposefully hid her face from him with careful postural placement. "I have no idea that it was this harsh… will it be alright for Komui to know this?"

"He needs to." She said evenly. Too evenly, too calmly, and he could hear her forcing the words out through clenched jaws. "They all do. It's inevitable. It's something I despise, but… if it's for you to know about it in order to find a way to understand, to defeat the Owl… then I'm more than willing to shoulder a little more unease."

"I doubt it's a _little more_ unease, Rei." He stated, staring at her. But still, she averted her gaze elsewhere. Even when the sun was still up, he could see shadows looming over her figure. She flinched slightly at his lack of suffix to her name. "They all said the same thing, especially the good doctor. He said you never truly healed, only made better, but not cured of your aliment."

"My body is healed." She averted the subject from his statement, and looked at her hands. He noticed that it was slightly shaken. "My body is healed. It's fine, there's no need to worry."

"It's not your body that I'm worried about." He said, standing up and walking to her. She did what Lavi anticipated her to do – backing away by getting up and walked towards the other end of the room. "I've never said this, but I always see something in your eyes. The way you walk, the way you talk, the way you express your feelings."

She chewed the emptiness in her mouth and looked at him straight for once, her eyes hard and apprehensive. A bitter smile formed on her lips, "Lavi-san, I haven't failed my assignments even once. It doesn't affect me or my work."

He is a Bookman, sure, but that didn't mean that he, as _Lavi_ , would not feel any concerns for his comrades. And she caught his eyes well enough. He halted her attempt to get away by grabbing her wrist. She didn't attempt to pry free, so he spoke a bit softer this time. "It might not, but it's affecting _you_. Have you even looked at yourself in the mirror, Rei? You look like _a zombie_."

"It's because of my medical duties, not because of the _aliments_ you spoke of, Lavi-san." She asserted. Stubborn was what she was acting; not being strong, but obstinate. She might actually resembled Kanda more than she knew. Or maybe she did.

"Your fellow physicians don't look as beaten as you are." He stated. "And last night, I woke up when _you_ woke up. I asked around about that too."

Her eyes widen as she stared up at him. " _What?_ "

"You returned by midnight, and you woke up at _three in the morning_. Then you left at three and a half. How long has this been happening now? Months? _Years?_ " His voice grew louder by the second and, unconsciously, his grip on her wrist tightened. She flinched, but didn't voice her pain otherwise. Lavi let go, watching as she slowly backward-walked towards her bed and sat down.

She rested her head in her palms, and said nothing.

"So? How long has this been going on? If not for the Owl, this probably would stay in the dark until the day you faint mid-battle." He spat those last words too harshly, and she recoiled. He soften his manner and voice as he continued, speaking quieter this time. "We're friends here, Rei. I'm sure we can help you out, help you recover –"

"No." She said firmly. "You can't. None of you can. The only cure is –"

She seemed to have blurted those out unintentionally, because she clasped both hands over her mouth before the _only cure_ slipped out. She evened out her breathing with a well-practiced inhale-exhale technique. Lavi touched her shoulder as lightly as he could, but still she startled. He opened his mouth and tried to comfort her. "Rei, I'm –"

"All of you are just the same." She said, hiding her eyes under her bangs, of which he noticed was soaked wet with sweat. He frowned as she said, almost in a reprimanding tone. But it was… something more. More than just one or two emotions. "Always asking questions. Always trying to _find_ answer, answer that you just don't need to know."

The room fell silence as her breathing, ragged again from her little ranting, slowed down. Lavi took this opportunity to press. "I don't care anymore if this will concern the Order or no. But many will want answers, Rei, for _your_ sake –"

"For my sake?" She cried. "For _my_ sake? No, Lavi-san, you _don't_ understand. Had it been anything else, I'd have told you. I'd have, I really would, but this is beyond your understanding _or_ your concern. So please, just leave it at that. I'm still alive. I can work. I can fight. That's enough for me."

He sniffed. "Liar. You are a decent lair, but you're terrible this time."

"I know." She breathed. "I know."

"Rei," This was going to be his last try, Lavi thought dryly, as he reached for her again. She looked up blankly. "Let's make a deal. You're carrying a lot of burden with you, in case you don't know that. I can help. I promise I won't tell a single soul unless you tell me to."

"How can I trust that you'll keep it? Hadn't you said before that you'll tell everyone as soon as it came to light that it concerned the safety of the Order?" Rei pressed, stiffening slightly. She's being quite defensive.

"I care about you, you know, as a friend would. I'm not speaking to you as an exorcist or a Bookman this time. I'm speaking to you as Lavi." He was being honest with himself, something rare. As Bookman, this put him at risk to be targeted by the panda's wrath, but he'd grown quite fond of her and, to be honest, he didn't like seeing her breaking down this much.

" _As Lavi,_ huh…" She mumbled, biting at her thumb's nail anxiously. "…you do realize that what you're doing might get you exiled from the clan, right?"

He was about to ask _how did you know about that?_ But he decided against that. She must've deduced it on her own, if he knew her well enough. "I know, and I don't give a fuck. So… I can keep your dirty little secrets."

"…Ha…" She laughed only once and shook her head, getting up from the bed and, unexpectedly, hugged him. He blinked stupidly for a few seconds then patted her in the back a few times. Once she let go, she smiled, this time her expression sincere, gentle and warm. Something he had seen too little from her. "Right… I think the line is a bit blurry for you here, Lavi-san."

"It always is. I'm a teenage with raging hormones!" He joked, joining in her laughter and patted her head, knocking her hair off its perfect shape. "So, what is your decision? Come on, share something with me, and maybe I can help you ease your burden a bit, eh?"

"You are a lot less convincing than you think, Lavi-san." She said. "I'll keep most things to myself, but if you said those things that way… then maybe… maybe I can tell you _something_."

"Well, just tell me the "something" when you feel like it."

"I'll divulge but a few bits. You know, for my mental stability."

"So you do _have_ that issue. I _knew_ it!"

"Lavi-san, don't be so excited." Rei chuckled, looking off the window. "I'll explain it, but first we'll have to take a look at the trails in the forest. It leads quite deep into the shadows, and I think it's best we go together, in case some uncalculated unpleasantries happen upon us."

"So you came back here for your Innocence."

"Yes," She nodded. "Well now… sit down, if you may. It's quite a story, and for the record, if words about it even reach your grandfather's ears, I'll have to consider _purging_ you both as an option."

"Slow down, I ain't telling a soul, honest!" He said, holding both hands up.

"Alright, alright…" She breathed again. How anxious must she be? Letting her tell everything might be a good move, after all. Only the worst of secrets can make someone so calm like her this _jittery_. "But know this, Lavi-san… this thing I'm about to tell you might be a little… _hard_ to believe. I can't even believe it myself most of the time."

"In case you hadn't realized, exorcists deal with crazy shits on a daily basis." He said with a smile. "So go on ahead. No judging."

"Why I'm going to reveal even the slightest bits to you, I have no idea." She mumbled to herself, but he still heard it, and he smiled. Truth be told, if it had been other people – except for gramps – he might not go this far for them. "Here goes nothing…"

* * *

"I can't fucking believe it. I still can't."

"I did warn you."

"I know. Still, fuck, your life's messed up."

They bantered as they walked through the forest. By the time Rei finished short-versioning her stories and said it, it was sundown, and he still had his jaw lost somewhere on the ground. What she had told him wasn't lies, he just knew it, but it's so fucked up he'd rather get kicked around by an Akuma rather than met the same fate as she was. Still, after she told it (of course, she left some details, but he's not going to ask more. She had told him enough), she seemed a bit better, as she had someone _else_ to listen to her story and helped her inside the Order. Not that she needed an extra contact. But he added himself in as a trustworthy friend, so…

"It's better than I thought." She said with a light-hearted smile, stretching her arms up above her head, with her suitcase dangling off her hand. "It's been so long since someone else was there. And the others, you know, they were so busy with information gathering and some such that we barely talked."

"I'm here for ya, if you need." He winked. "Now I understand your comment on _I-can't-possible-be-in-love_ , now. Still, I think you're too hard on yourself! Love is good."

"If you mean _striking_ someone is good, it isn't." She said with a merry laughter as she slapped him lightly in the back. "But I do appreciate the opinion, Lavi-san. It seems like everyone said the same thing about the _get-the-love_ part."

"You deserve a chance, if it makes you feel better." Lavi said. She was afraid to get too close because she had… _terrible_ secrets. Really, he still couldn't fully wrap his head around it. "I mean… even the _Beast_ in _Beauty and the Beast_ gets that chance. You should, too."

"That's a terrible comparison, _Rabbit-san_." She dead-eyed him, and he had no choice but to cower. Jesus, she's still so scary after all the mental breakdowns she had a few hours ago.

"I'm serious! You _do_ get my point, right?"

"Thank you, Lavi-san."

"And drop the suffix. I'll drop the _–chan_ , if you drop the _–san_ , how's that?"

She contemplated on that for a moment and smiled. "It's a deal."

The light banters continued all the way from the inn, down the path lead to the forest and into the thick trees. True to her words, there was a _lot_ of light flickering in the air, like jewels in the woodland. The silent hums of the crickets were as comforting as it went, and Lavi, now aware of the (tiny part of the whole) story, understood now why she found comfort in this place.

She trekked across the terrains, now with occasional pits and fallen trees, without so much as breaking her stride. He had trained in the art of terrain walking before, but hers seemed so much more refined, more elegance. Well, he might need to learn from her some. But still, he had to ask, first, "Rei, I've gotta ask, what sort of movements are those?"

"Hmm? These?" She returned his question as she vaulted over the fallen tree trunk and landed without stumbling. He followed suit, a bit more awkward, but he was 5cm taller than her, so it wasn't that much of a problem. "It's called _Parkour_ , and yes, I can teach it to you. I think Kanda-san was… trying to ask me to educate him? I don't really remember."

"Yuu? Are you _kidding?_ " Lavi blurted out, incredulous. He then remembered that Kanda was rather… _tamed_ when he was with her, minus that distrust bits when she displayed unrivaled animosity towards Lvellie. "On second thought, not so much. He's _cute_ when he's with you."

"He distrusts me, Lavi." She stated with a bitter smile. "It's for the best. But it's not what I wanted. It'd be better if we can talk like normal acquaintances. Now everything around him is odd. Jittery. Uncomfortable."

"You told me about that. You seemed to have quite a mental breakdown then, huh?" He murmured, placing both hands behind his head and leant against them, relaxing a bit more. He caught her biting her nail, again, and frowned. "I would rather you _not_ bite your nail like that."

"Hm? Oh? Ah, right." She muttered, putting her hand down and rubbed at the bitten nail gingerly. Then she sighed. "Oh god, I only realized just now that I'm an emotional wreck."

"No shitting, yo."

"That does _not_ help, Lavi."

"Duh." He stuck out a tongue. Reeling back after a moment, he smiled. "But I'm here if you need someone to talk, you know?"

"Thank you, Lavi. I truly am."

"S'not a problem." He grinned before turning his eyes towards the edge of the path, where only shadow reigned. The trees around the parts were knocked over, torn off to their roots, or shot and turned into sponges. The case of red-black bullets littered the ground. Akumas. "This, what –"

"It seems we're not the only one looking for information regarding the Owl, Lavi." She said, kneeling at the spot where there's a piece of red, arm-size quill lying on the floor. The color was dull, the quill itself half-broken and fragile. "Be careful. We don't know who's here. Maybe just the Akumas, maybe the Owl."

"Right." He echoed, taking his hammer from its pouch and activated it, holding it with one hand and using his shoulder to bear its already feather-light weight, just to prime his arm for the swing.

Rei took the red mask off from its clasp on her belt and put it on, her eyes changed from warm and light ones into predatory eyes, cold and calm. She glanced at him once and beckoned him to follow her, ever slowly. She had _IXA_ activated after they made their way through the woodland, and used it to prod at the dead body – torn asunder, too, mind you.

Their breathing stopped, and she murmured. "Level Four."

"Good chance the Owl might be here." Lavi concluded. She responded with a nod. "Well, you came here without _IXA_ when you scouted here, yeah? You have quite a devil's luck, aren't ya?"

"Can you call it luck when all I did was preemptively hiding myself?" She said with a hint of smile in her voice. "Besides, I stopped when I reached the entrance."

"Still a risk, though."

"Indeed." She murmured. "Let's focus on the objective at hand."

They both stalked in silence, past the woods and fireflies that lit up the night. Without the moon, their visions were hampered, their awareness to their surroundings dulled. To make up for that, they breathed as soft as they could, their every step careful and made little noise. He watched the rear while she cared for the front, and the further they went along the trails of broken trees and blood and bodies, the harsher the chilling wind that licked their faces.

She signaled him to stop once they get through an archway made of dying wood and hanging entrails. His nose scrunched up as she attempted to un-smell the stench. They stopped, and the scene before them made Lavi's bones ache and his skin crawled.

The Owl, so large, larger than the one General Nine captured, laughed as it tore another Akuma in half with its teeth, swallowing its upper piece down its stomach in one gulp. He saw Tyki at the side, firing bolts of purplish energy at it, chipping it all too slowly. The beast laughed, and its arms and mane grew brighter –

"Lavi!" She whispered urgently, a hand over his head in a second. "Down!"

The beast roared, and countless blood-quills erupted from its body, striking down many Akumas in the front. Tyki was lucky he had a few Level Threes to block the attack. Then Lavi noticed his left arm, with blood leaking out still and pain clearly painted all over his feature.

"What is this?" He hissed, stepping behind the tree and laid as low as he could, his one eye scanning the Akuma-riddled forests. The floor was covered in bodies, most in forms of tangled entrails and pieces of limbs and torsos.

"I understand the Noah, but why is the Owl here?" She whispered back, her posture stiff and her eyes dark. Her grip on IXA grew impossibly tighter. "Damn it, now this just got a lot more complicated."

"Will the town be safe?"

"I don't know." She muttered. "They must be here for the information on the Owl, but… there's no reason for the Owl to be here! Why?"

"We can think about that later, Rei." He said, and then silenced himself when the Owl roared again and charged at Tyki, who dodged it by the hair. And to their luck, their fight got close to where they were hiding.

They pressed themselves flat against the tree, their breathing halted as their muscled strained to stop any and all movements that may have happened. Rei glanced at him, her eye unreadable, before she looked at the shadow of the two beasts fighting against each other. His eye followed suit, and the speed at which the shadows shifted made him gasped.

They were fast, far too fast for his eye to catch, and he could imagine the force and brutality behind each strike. Rei's eyes trained after them without missing a beat as they skimmed around the clearing, her brows knotted together as she noted each and every movement they made throughout the skirmish.

She sighed, and muttered, " _Murphy's Law_."

"What?"

"Everything that can go wrong _will_ go wrong."

It took him a second to actually get the meaning, and when he did, the first thing he knew was his body flying through the air and landed face-first into the ground.

Someone skidded from a distance to where he was, and stopped beside him. Some droplets of red fell beside his face, and he looked up –

Rei's right arm, still gripping IXA tightly, pressed against her left arm, now sporting a large gash. Her injured arm was left dangling limply with river of blood trailing down from her wound. Her face remained impassive as she glanced at him briefly before looking forward. Lavi's eye followed her only to see that Tyki was looking at them in surprise and the Owl –

"Well, well, well, lookie here! I've missed you!"

She clicked her tongue and tore a piece of her long-sleeve overcoat off, turning it into a makeshift bandage and tied it around the gash without leaving both monsters from her sight. There was a bitter-smile-ish glistening in her eyes as she replied, polite as ever. "The feeling was not mutual, Takatsuki-san."

"At least I get the break." Tyki said with a relieved sigh. Then he locked eyes with the Owl and grinned sheepishly. "Maybe not."

The Owl's blade arm (he just noticed it was coated with blood, probably Rei's) stabbed where Tyki was as the Noah stepped onto the air, avoiding the blow. He raised his arm at them, and Lavi barely had any time to react when he shot the purple energy beam at them. Rei was much quicker, already getting in the way and morphed IXA into its shield form, blocking the strike.

She returned its form back as soon as the attack ended and used the tip to hook at his scarf. Before he knew it, he was thrown (again! Why?) Into the air and effectively out of the fight. He didn't understand this until the corner of his eye caught Akumas heading for the direction they came from –

"Lavi!" She called, sliding down and narrowly preventing total decapitation from the Owl. "Get back there and protect the village!"

"But –" Rei fighting alone against the Owl _and_ Tyki was too tall an order, even for other Generals, let alone here. But he couldn't ignore the Akumas heading to civilian residences, either. His thought was cut short when the Owl shot its quills all around it. Good thing his hammer was sturdy enough for it.

Rei was having a much harder time, instead forced to avoid rather than block the barrages of quills as Tyki circled in from behind, his arm raised and ready to strike. She blocked his attack without looking and threw him off balance, right into the Owl's gaping mouth. The man cursed and let out a fucking barrelful of _Tease_ , covering the vicinity in black fog.

Rei used the tiny opening to breath. "Just go! Protect them!"

"You can't manage alone!" He bellowed, summoning his fire serpent. The fire beast roared and soared into the sky at his command, temporarily blocking the advance of the Akumas. "What the fuck is this!?"

"Just go!" She said, much more urgently than last time. "They'll die if you don't go, Lavi! I'll be f – _Ah!_ "

Her cry of pain drew his attention, and her left arm – already bloodied as it was before – was caught in between the Owl's sharp white teeth. Its grin was as unsettling as the amount of blood streaming out from Rei's wound. Her face twisted in pain as she stabbed IXA in between its teeth and pushed the hilt down with all her body weight, wedging its mouth apart and pulled her arm out.

He was about to repeat what he had said, but the look in her eyes cut him into silence; she was pleading him to go.

"Fuck!" He breathed, glancing at her one last time before rushing to the village, to the innocents back in the town she once lived in.

 _You better come out of this alive and in one piece, Rei._

* * *

Kanda is annoyed. And pissed.

Probably more the former than the latter.

He tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for his _comrades_ to drag their fucking asses to the gate. He'd been waiting for half an hour now, and that was just _outrageous_.

Lenalee, he understood, since this was a rather complicated mission. Komui probably fussed over her some. What he couldn't understand is why the fuck _Daisya_ and the _Beansprout_ would be so, _so_ damn late. This was a rare case, since they were all time-strict (well, maybe not as bad as he was. But still!) And there wasn't any emergency meeting or anything that would require their absolute attentions.

But he could feel something was off. There were less medical staffs than usual, and the absence of most stationary finders suggested something was in need of their attentions. He looked around, spotting but a handful of medics sitting in the sideline. Unlike usually, where they had free time to chatter, they were contacting with someone, walking around and stuttering about wildly.

He walked up to one of the freest ones and tapped him lightly by the shoulder. The man held him off with a raised hand and continued his discussion with someone at the other side of the comm before turning to him. "Speak quickly, Mr. Kanda. We're budy."

"The fuck happens?"

"Ah, that –"

"Kanda!"

The man was cut short by Lenalee's voice. He turned to see that she and Allen were running towards the gate with a few medical staffs (and Alexi) in tow. Link followed closely behind, hands full with medical equipment. He raised an eyebrow as they reached him. Alexi still shouted something at the medics and the men beside him, but he hadn't paid much mind.

"What took you so long?" He reprimanded, glancing between the two alternately before his eyes landed on the various equipment Alexi and Link had gathered at their feet. "And what the fuck with all those things?"

"Emergency mission replacing the one we were s'posed to do." Allen replied in short, nodding at the guard who then asked for the authorization to use the Ark Gate.

"What happened?"

"We lost contact with Rei-san and Lavi two hours ago. Attempts to raise them had failed, and since their mission was supposed to be just a recon for any information regarding the Owl… we think something had happened." Link filled in, flipping the page of his note.

"Also," Alexi piqued up from where he was, tinkering at his machines. "Before the communication went dark, we heard someone said something into the golem – indirectly – about cardiac tamponade or something."

"And that means?" He really, really hated technical terms.

The doctor's grim face answered enough. "It means someone is in _big_ trouble, and if I were to guess, it's one of those two."

"Are you ready, Alexi-san?" Lenalee asked, tightening her belts and sleeves. She turned to him and Allen. "Once we arrived in Copenhagen, I'm carrying you two and Alexi, because travel by roads is going to take at least twelve hours. Please do _not_ fight while we're airborne, or I'll drop you."

"Understood." Allen echoed. Kanda only nodded in respond.

Well. Shit just got a lot more complicated.

* * *

 ** _Interlude Two: Old Blood that Boils_**

Telling someone _else_ something was… refreshing.

Although I barely disclosed anything to Lavi, it made me felt like I've lifted a weight that had been crushing me off my back. I felt… _lighter_ , free.

Some of what I've told him was the truths, while others… well, they were the lies I constructed in order to convince _myself_ that everything's under control. I told Lavi a single name, and if he's as smart as I think he is… he'll soon come to an answer, impossible to understand.

I don't even know why I gave him that name… plus some other lies to cover up my trail.

And then, the seemingly tranquil (but mentally exhausting) mission came apart and crashed down in flames.

Why? Why has it come to this?

I can feel the pain in my left arm still, but it amounted to _nothing_ as the question repeated itself in my head. The mask I had on hid my growing panic as I stared at the Owl. Tyki was within my calculations, but why would the Owl be here? There's no reason for it to –

And I caught the Akumas scurrying at the edges of my vision, heading for the village. My blood ran cold, and I had asked of Lavi the impossible; to save it while I dealt with the Owl.

He was reluctant, but we had no choice. I have the best chance of coming out alive against these two monstrosities, and he had the highest wide-range offensive capabilities. He had to go. He had to leave me here.

And when he did, I turned _IXA_ from its rapier form into the katana, brimming with life and death. The Owl sneered while Tyki used this opportunity to flee through Road's crumbling portal. I didn't train my eyes after them, since doing so would warrant for the Owl to attack me.

"So even IXA had changed to suit your needs, Akihiro." It cooed, coming closer with its neck craned to the side, its grin widen impossibly still. The sting on my arm intensified and I felt like being jolted by electricity. It laughed when I jumped slightly at the shock. "Come on now, don't be shy. Talk to me."

"I have nothing to talk about, Takatsuki-san." I said, gritting my teeth. The blood – _my blood_ – started whirling, and then they gathered around the blade, slowly but noticeably. "We have _nothing_ to discuss, not with that last stunt you pulled five years ago."

"So mean," It said, priming its main as it glowed bright red. "You know, I am sourly disappointed in you."

"What is there to be?" I joked back and dodged its downward slash by side-stepping and jabbed at it.

"You didn't even notice that the Noah didn't _really_ leave… 3."

The words sunk in too late, and before I knew what happened a sharp, searing pain cut across my back.

I knew what had happened, so there's no point mulling over it. Instead, I used the tip of my blade to command my blood off the ground and the wound itself, using it to extend the reach of IXA and cut at whatever had attacked me. It only grazed the Noah, but that was enough.

My breathing became labored as the burning pain from the wounds ran through my systems. Adrenaline had already kicked in, so I expected myself to be able to hold out a bit longer. I widened my stance, and crouched, my eyes trained after both the Owl and Tyki, who had yet again entered Roal's portal, this time making sure that _he did not come back_.

"Here it comes, here it comes!" The Owl cried gleefully as I lunged.

We exchanged blows after blows, and I was forced into a defensive stance as the Owl increased the ferocity of its attack. I couldn't lose track of it for a second or I'd be forced on my knees in seconds. The back of my mind thank whatever that inspired Tyki Mikk to leave me alone.

This continued for who knows how long before the Owl slipped up because of its own stupidity as it winded up for a heavy strike that would never hit me.

The blood that circled around the blade caught the flickered of fire from the bright-red steel itself, and the extended reach caught one of the Owl's blade-like protrusions from its back. But of course, being the sadistic-masochistic monster that it was, it didn't flinch away, nor did it try to move out. And that was the only thing that wasn't within my calculations.

Instead, it closed in, and I found myself flying and hitting a tree.

It jumped at my vulnerable state, and I barely rolled out of the way in time before it teeth sunk into the place where I was a moment ago.

I shivered at the mere thought of getting caught like that.

But before anything else could be done, it just looked up, its signature grin nowhere to be seen. Its eye rolled between me and something far into the distance of the night.

And it left.

I sighed in relief, but I had no time to dwell on it – I had to go. Lavi – Lavi was against that number of Akumas, all alone –

As I made my way back, I cut them all to pieces, but the closer I got to the village, the thicker the cloud of these machines became, and soon I found that Lavi was being overwhelmed by the continuing onslaught of bullets and blades. I cried his name, but he didn't heed it. I had to help him –

And by the time I did, he had already fallen.

"Lavi!" I cried his name one more time as my adrenaline surged again – I had to _save him_ , no matter what.

* * *

 ** _Annnnnnd there's that. No Chapter next week, folk! Exam incoming! :(_**

 ** _Anyways, if you have any questions, ask away in the review. If it doesn't contain spoilers, I'll be happy to reply :D_**


	11. Chapter 11

**_Hello, everyone! Post exam posting, yey! :D_**

 ** _Well, after that cliffhanger, I ought to give you something... this is kind of a filler chapters, really, only a slight insight to Rei's past and a little... psych problem._**

 ** _Without further ado, here goes nothing!_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter Eleven: Aftermath_**

Where was he?

Lavi didn't remember much. But he knew he had walked away from Rei and the Owl, back to the town halfway on fire, and –

He had fought the Akuma for who knows how long. He had burned himself with his own Innocence while he was at it, too, out of exhaustion. He had used his last strength to put up Fire Seal's barrier around the town hall and the hospital, and there's that.

He opened his eye, only to see Rei – bloodied and bandaged – looking down at him through her bangs. Her lower face was covered in medical mask, and when she looked at him, she sighed in relief.

"Thank god you're still alive." She said, turning her face slightly to the side and talked to someone he couldn't see. It seemed he had been strapped into the bed –

Wait, wait, what the fuck –

Sensing his twitches and unease, she placed a hand – gloved, bloodied and through green, thick piece of cloth – on his shoulder, exerting enough force to stop his movement. He looked up, and soon realized that he had a tube down his throat. So he struggled more, trying to cough, to _vomit_ the damn thing out, but his little attempt had been put to a stop when Rei pressed a bit harder.

"Lavi, listen to me." She said sternly. He saw shadows dancing at the edges of his visions and cranking sounds of something metallic. He turned his eye to her, calmed down slightly now compared to a moment before. "You have got a _lot_ of injuries, and right now you're halfway to your grave. Try to stay calm; I'm doing everything I can to keep that from happening."

Halfway to grave? What –

"Oh fuck!" Someone shouted, and a shadow to his right went away. He raised his head and looked down, only to see that his right leg was a complete mess; there was this large piece of wood – probably from the broken building – in his thigh, and there was _so much blood_ pouring out.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rei snarled, walking over to his leg and threw her equipment at the nurse she passed by before shoving the man out with her foot. "Jesus Christ, I told you to be careful!"

"Hey, I'm your senior here, Akihiro!" The man snapped back, wiping the blood from his face. Ah, so it hit the vessel and it ruptured in the man's face?

"Seniors and Juniors mean _nothing_ when a life is in our hands!" She snapped back. He got tired and returned his head to the bed he was strapped on. Lavi looked around to see intravenous lines, probably two of it, linking up two packs of blood labeled _O Rh+_.

The man snorted, "You need to learn to respect your elders."

"And you need to learn to admit when you're doing it _wrong_." Her voice was the most severe he had ever heard. It was cold, and very, _very angry_. He saw nurses scooted back, and even the defiant "Senior", as he had called himself, cowered. He saw her eyes, glaring at the man through her bangs. "This is not the time to be petty. If you don't want to help, get the hell out of my sight."

"This is my hospital! You have no rights!"

"Do you want to walk out by yourself, or do you want to be carried out in a body bag?"

She said it so evenly, so calmly, that Lavi could feel his nonexistent spine grew cold. That's when he realized she must've put him under a spinal block on top of – what was it called, putting him to sleep? – Because he couldn't feel a damn thing under his ribcages.

"…fine." The man relented, his shadow returned to the field where Rei used to be. He then heard someone cussed. "What?"

"This blasted thing!" Rei hissed. He heard more sound of metallic pieces being thrown. And then there was a surprised yelp as something hit the far side of the room. He looked up to see a metallic mallet _embedded_ into the wall, and there was this posture she was in –

"Why would you do that!?"

"Because this thing had no weight behind it!" She snarled. Oh damn, she's super scary in the OR. He had heard some doctors and nurses discussed this a few times back at the Order. To actually witness it for himself, though…

There was a pregnant pause. Surprisingly enough, the working hands didn't stop or even slowed down in the slightest.

"Where did you order this equipment from?"

"Um…"

"Black market?" She inquired, this time not leaving her eyes from his leg as she raced against time to save whatever remained of it. Without response, she assumed that her remark was accurate. She let out a sigh. "Which one?"

"The one by the waterway near the coffee shop," The man replied.

She paused for a fraction of second. There was a huff, and she spoke in a language he didn't know. But judging from how it sounded, he would say that it was a series of curses and profanities. Then she said slowly, threateningly, at the entity outside of the town. "I'm going to talk with those men once this stupid fight is over."

The work on his body resumed in silence. But the serenity lasted only for a few minutes when he started having difficulty breathing – not because he was intubated and having air pushed into his lungs by the bag, mind you. It took him a few moments later to start using the only hand he felt – where was his right hand? – and claw it at his chest.

She tied something at his leg and walked to his side, checking his lungs with her stethoscope. The frown on her face deepened, but still she remained as calm as she had been.

"Of course this is going to be a thing." She muttered, turning to the foot end of the bed. "Give me number 18 needle! Can you put in the ICD, _senior?_ "

"Yes."

"Right Pneumothorax." She said informatively as she took the sizeable needle from the nurse's hand and uncapped it. "This is going to sting a bit, Lavi."

Without pause, she _stabbed_ him, and he gasped (if he could call doing that through an endotracheal tube that).

His breathing became much easier, however.

"You shouldn't have missed that." She reprimanded, calling a nurse to get her a new pair of sterile gloves before getting back to the leg as he saw the man entered the room with two glass jars and sets of tubes and lines he couldn't name. "The class covers _this_ topic, you know."

"I don't remember. Not much use in a small town."

"A doctor who doesn't sharpen his knowledges is no doctor." She said calmly, pulling something out of his leg while putting a pack of gauze in. "If you are content with living in remote villages, it's fine, but at least keep yourself sharp; you never know what's going to hit."

"Yes, _mother_."

Something flew at the male doctor's head.

"Being stupid like that one more time, and I'll request your permit to work as physician be removed by the University of Copenhagen."

Oh wow, he hadn't realized she could do that. Could she? If she could, that would mean Rei had quite the connections. If that's not the case, then Lavi could assume that she had blackmailing materials.

The doctor didn't retaliate this time, only nudging his non-feeling arm up beside his head and pushed a needle to his side. Then her voice came when he started feeling funny. "How's his conscious?"

"Still good." The nurse responded, peering down at him. "He seemed too lucid, though. Do you want to –"

"No, leave it like that." Rei said, looking up at the ceiling – and was that _blood_ on it? Oh his god, what the fuck – and then at him. "Lavi, I know you can't talk right now, but I'll have to ask you something. Answer with a moss code by tapping your fingers is fine; I understand those."

He responded by exactly that, tapping moss code with his left hand. The soft knocks on the operating table didn't disturb others much, he noted.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

 _Getting owned by Akuma, I think. Can't remember._

That took him a few whooping minutes to get across. He hated the tube so much. She didn't stop her hands even when he was tapping, relying mostly on her ears to discern the signals. She seemed to have interpreted then correctly, as she hummed in respond. "I figure as much. Head trauma tends to do that."

He grunted and tapped, a bit faster this time. _Why the tube?_

"Your… posterior nasal cavity – the end of your nasal canal – had the cartilage cracked and cut at the arteries there. You were unconscious, plus you were bleeding pretty badly _elsewhere_ , so I had to intubate you – because it's faster – first before applying the nasal packing." She explained, reaching up and pulled at a white string which caused him to want to sneeze. "This connects to the packing."

Okay. He did not want to know that.

"Ma'am, tachycardia on the graph – one hundred thirty five!" Someone called, and for a moment her hands stopped. He could see concern written all over her as her head turned to the monitor by his head. Her eyes narrowed, and she clicked her tongue.

"Lavi," She said calmly. "I'm going to put you to sleep… whatever I'm doing next, you don't want to be awake."

Before he could ask his question (through the damn moss code), he felt the sting of pain in his left arm as something flooded his system. He heard someone called her, and after a few seconds, his vision went black.

* * *

Lenalee carrying them over by the sky was _inconvenient_ , to put it lightly.

Hell, he hated being _touched_ by anything belonging to the idiot beansprout, even less so when he had to do it for an extended period of time.

And fuck his luck, he had to be bounded by Clown Belt for _hours_.

"Kanda, stop wiggling or I'll drop you." Allen said, looking down at him.

"Shut the fuck up, Beansprout." He snarled, but stopped moving. He was not afraid of height, but he _hated_ the feeling of broken bones. He might still heal, but it still hurt. And he isn't a masochist.

"How long will it take?" Allen asked Lenalee, tightening his grip on her hand a bit as he did. The girl looked ahead, her eyes narrowed in focus. Then she took a look back at where they came from.

"At least ten minutes. We're almost there." She called. "Alexi-san, are you still there?"

The doctor had his free hand over his mouth while the other tugged the emergency equipment tightly. His face was definitely green, and his look was enough to give Kanda the clue that he can vomit at any given moment.

The man looked up and smiled forcefully. "Yep. I'm okay."

"You so are _not_." Lenalee murmured and sped up slightly, enough to be noticed but not enough to aggravate the doctor's symptoms. The landscape was hard to navigate without moonlight, and in such a remote area, seeing any light at all was a miracle.

About fifteen minutes and two set of vomit flying in the air later, they arrived at the town.

And the sight was just unsettling.

The outskirts were destroyed; some buildings smashed to pieces while others got burnt to crisps. There were dead bodies – probably of the townspeople – all over the place. And among those were Akuma parts, some in ashes, others in pieces, cut and tore apart by a great force. There weren't a single active Akuma about, and the surviving townspeople worked to recover both their deaths and alive inside the ruins.

"What happened here…?" Allen breathed to them, his gray eyes frantically looked about. He found neither Rei nor Lavi in the vicinity, much to his relief. It took Lenalee a long time to get the disgust building up in her (Kanda thought, since the girl's face was rather grave) out and landed.

One of the dwellers looked at them and, upon seeing the Rose Cross on their jackets, lit up and ran to their landing zone. She was quite aged, but still had some stamina left in her as she crossed the distance quite easily. Once she was within the earshot, she said. "Exorcists! Your friends are up there, third floor!"

They followed her finger to find a rather crowded building, with injured people flocking outside the door. Nurses were treating them the best they can, but with so many casualties and little resources, it was becoming a challenge. Alexi quickly led the way, with Kanda following suit. Before they left, Lenalee asked if they needed any assistance, in which the old lady only said that they will be alright, and their friends (Lavi and Rei) required their attentions more than the townspeople themselves.

The hospital, as it turned out, had blood everywhere, from the floor and to the ceiling (how it got there, Kanda just did _not_ want to know). Some nurses in green shirts, unlike the ones outside who wore pure white, walked up and down like ants stuttering for food during winter. Alexi followed one of them up, and so did the three of them, a bit surprised by the situation.

There was a room, closed off from all the rest, and nurses regularly went in and out of there. Alexi walked up to the nurse who was waiting for something outside and asked. "Hey, sorry, where's the exorcists?"

"Miss Akihiro is operating on her companion." The nurse said. There was a trace of fear in her voice at the mention of Rei's name. Alexi seemed not so surprise by that, but the rest of them (no, not Kanda… okay, maybe a little) sure did. "Who might you be?"

"Her first assistant." He said briefly, walking to the door and peered inside the window. His eyes traced up, and he gasped. "God, what happened?"

"Our doctor, Mr. Edmund, tore an artery further while he attempted to repair it," She replied, hands busy preparing square gauzes and equipment, all of them bloodied, before sliding it towards the waiting worker.

"How's Lavi? The patient, I mean." He asked, taking off his necktie and rolled up his sleeves. He asked the other worker about something Kanda couldn't understand as he took the equipment case he brought with him, put it on the table, and opened it almost too quickly.

"Blood loss, severe head trauma, cuts and burns, piercing wounds… the list goes on, but most of the serious ones are treated just moments before you arrived." She said. "I heard from Miss Akihiro you might be coming. She'd been operating for sixteen hours straight now, so you might what to switch."

"Six – _what?_ " He snapped almost instantly. "Wait, how long had she been up? Since the attack and all?"

"Last I heard she woke up three in the morning yesterday." She said. Kanda took a quick look at his watch, and it was ten in the evening –

"Holy fuck that was forty three hours already!" Alexi snarled and knocked at the door. Someone opened it, and he yelled inside. "Chief! Why the fuck don't you rest! You could've _slipped!_ "

Her voice, tired but still dignified (and pretty pissed, Kanda noted) came from the inside. "I don't trust _this guy_ with Lavi's life. Someone else might've gotten it wrong. And that's the first thing you said to me? Really?"

"Real-fucking-ly, you workaholics!" He snarled, his eyes scanning the room and he quickly made way for the sink. He shouted inside as he cleaned his hands rapidly (but thoroughly. This must be doctors' thing). "We're switching, and I see you have wounds! Get that looked at, too!"

"I k – holy hell _stop poking at his artery!_ " She snarled at someone else. Kanda could've sworn there was death mist leaking out of the room. "Get your hands off, Edmund. I don't care if you're this place's owner or not!"

"And you stop _operating!_ " Alexi snapped. "You're too tired to be performing surgery!"

"And you're too slow!" She snapped back.

"…I've never seen her like this before." Allen said as they backed away. The bickering continued, its intensity increased steadily, and he could clearly see that the male doctor, Alexi, was becoming both _irritable_ and _dreading_ his so-called insubordination.

"I've heard from brother." Lenalee said, looking outside the window, making doubly sure there's no Akuma outside. "He used to be in the same operating theater as her a few times. I never believed it when he said she killed everyone at least three times by yelling."

"I definitely do now." Kanda muttered. "Hell, the vibe I'm getting…"

"Worse than General Sokalo's." Allen finished for him.

"Yep."

After Alexi was done cleaning his hands, he pushed the door open further with his back and kicked it close. There were a few more angry remarks, shouts, and cussing later, Rei walked out –

Her face, still with anger burning in her eyes, was grim and covered with blood everywhere, from hair to her entire face. Despite her fury, her eyes glazed over, the lids half-close, and her hands were shaking badly. She looked up and only made a surprised sound when she saw them. She shook her head and blindly grabbed a towel by the counter.

"Keep him under close monitoring." She said, draping the towel in the water and squeezed the excess water out, keeping it slightly wet, but not soaked. "If he dies because of your negligence, I'll make sure you can never find a decent job _ever again_."

"Roger that, ma'am." The nurse said without looking at her.

"I'll… go watch out and help the civilian." Allen offered. "Some Akuma might be like those in Chita, so it's best if someone keep watch."

"I'll join you, too." Lenalee said, turning to look at Kanda.

Despite his urge to get away, he shook his head in refusal as he watched Rei wiping off the blood from her head and face absently, her mouth still spilling out a _lot_ of orders. The nurse had a hard time noting it all, but she just didn't care and keep on ordering. He turned to look at them and shrug. "I don't think she's going to make it to bed without help."

They looked at each other and nodded in approval after a while. "Alright. Call us if you want anything."

"Hopefully I won't have to." He muttered. "Now get your asses out there."

They left without another word, leaving him in the room with a few nurses, a rather distraught head nurse (he assumed. That woman still took orders from Rei) and his fellow exorcist. He crossed his arms and watched in silence as she put her hands under the steam of water and rubbed it together too fast and too hard, as if she was aiming to peel her skin off.

Her orders finished the moment she poured soap into her palms, and the nurse quickly went into the room, only to come out after five minutes or so. During that time, she remained still, cleaning her already spotless hands, still rubbing until her skin turned red. Her eyes weren't really seeing anything, by the looks of it, and if that kept up she might bled into the sink.

So Kanda stepped in and carefully laid his hand on her shoulder, she jerked her head up and whipped in his direction. Her mouth hung slightly ajar, with her breaths uneven and shallow, and her gaze –

She finally came back to her sense, and she looked at his hand, and then down at hers, still shaking. She fisted them and opted to grip the edge of the sink instead. She exhaled, inhaled, exhaled, in a pattern Kanda used all too often under pressure.

"I'll… I'll be fine." She whispered, not looking at him. He remained still, hand twitching only slightly. She bowed her head down until her face was veiled behind her hair and the shadow of the room. "I'll be fine. I'll be fine."

"You are not, and you won't be unless you get out of here." He said calmly. Why was he even doing this, he just had no idea. But it seemed like… a good thing to do. A thing he _must_ do.

"…Why are you here?" She mused. "You hate socializing."

"Don't change the subject." He muttered. She shook her head again, her grip on the sink so tight he swore she could've broke it under her fingers. "Hey, ease up. Don't you trust Alexi?"

"Had to be me." She said. "Someone else might've gotten it wrong."

"Even if that someone else is the one you train yourself? Stop looking down on others, Akihiro." He reprimanded her, pulling her with enough force to turn her towards him. She looked… _broken_. Not that severely, but that was the best word he could come up with. She avoided his gaze as he continued. Her brows were half-tying themselves into a tight knot. "You have no rights to take that doctor so lightly. You're looking down on him."

"No, no, I was – I don't mean to." She shook her head vigorously. Kanda had no idea she could break this bad under extreme pressure. It was probably because the one she was forced to treat was Lavi. That would put even the best under the worst mental torture. "I – I'm sorry, I don't. Someone else might've – might not… I –"

"Hey, look at me." He said, gripping both of her shoulders with his hands as gently as he could, forcing her to look at him. "You have to trust others more. Someone else might've gotten it _right_."

She slapped his hands off gently and nodded furiously a few time. Her jaws were set, but at least her eyes brightened slightly. She smiled, although it was forced, up at him. "…Thank you, Kanda-san. I was… Oh god, my mental stability is gone, isn't it?"

"You are awake for forty plus hours." He commented. "I'm surprised you're still standing, Akihiro."

Her eyes widened slightly as her fingers fumbled for her watch. She looked at it, then peered past him and practically glared at the calendar.

"…That explains a _lot_ of things." She said, her hand holding her head tightly as she fumbled to the suitcase resting at the corner. However, the fatigue finally set in, and her Innocence – Kanda noted that it was slightly bloodied, too – slipped out from her fingers.

He caught it the same time she did, and their hands brushed against each other's slightly. She was the first to retract her limb back.

"…Where do you rest now?"

"Town hall, attics." She said. "The rest of you will have to, as well. The Inn was destroyed. My travelling case is gone."

"We can ask the spare from the villagers." Kanda suggested, steadying her by grabbing under her bare arm (hey, it wasn't his fault she wore sleeveless shirt for an exorcist uniform) and tugged her with enough force to get her moving. "Or you can tell Lenalee to buy some at Copenhagen."

"…I don't dare ask the villagers for more." She shook her head as they walked (in her case, stumbled) down the steps and out of the hospital. Most of the injured were stabilized now, Kanda noted mentally. "Maybe… ah, I don't know anymore… I can't _think_."

"Then don't."

"It's my fault." She whispered, her voice cracked as they were out in the middle of the destroyed village. He had been careful in avoiding people as they walked to the _center_ of it all. Even though most villagers were finding and rescuing others at the outer edge, some remained, and they all looked at them with odd eyes. Not hatred, but… _sympathy?_ "It's all my fault."

"If you're going to blame anyone, blame it on whoever attacked." He said and quickened his pace. She followed without falling behind, which surprised him quite a bit, given her half-dead condition.

"No, no… it's all because I'm _here_." She denied. "It's all me. It's me. They're looking for me. I put this place at risk. I shouldn't have come here."

"Stop blaming yourself. It's getting annoying."

"You don't understand." She said, tugging her arm away from him, and it was only then that he got the feeling of fabric on his palm. His dark eyes wandered down only to see blood-soaked bandage covering from half the upper arm down to her wrist. With that brief moment of being idle, she managed to pry her arm free from his grasp. "None of you do."

"Then make me understand!" He snapped, forcefully took her arm back and yanked her with enough force to stop Rei dead in the track. She looked up, expression unreadable. "Talk. If you don't, then we can't help you."

"You can't know." She said, shaking her head furiously. "You can't know! I can't let you! There's too much, it's my burdens to bear, not yours!"

"For fuck's sake, you tell others to share their pain while you kept yours only to yourself!" He half bellowed, somehow managing to keep his voice low enough to not alert other villagers of their conversation. She jerked at his words, but did not respond otherwise. "Fuck it, woman, stop being a hypocrite and talk to _me!_ It's not like telling others would kill you!"

She paused, and said quietly. "It's not me I'm afraid to kill. It's _you_."

…What? What was she saying?

"If you know – I… I can't, I just can't!" She was more than simply broken from the pressure and the guilt. It was deeper, darker and much more serious than she had let on. This went beyond what he had imagined. "I can't! I can't! I _can't_ let you know! No, no, no, no, no –"

"Hey, hey, calm down, Akihiro, calm down!" He tried to snap her out of it, but his questioning – one he thought harmless – went a bit too far. Something in her snap like a weak twig, and she started crying as her knees finally gave out and her mouths formed incoherent words, voicing her pain and despair into the open.

Kanda looked around, making sure no one was there, and knelt down before her, unsure of what to do. He had never consoled anyone, dammit. This was so out of his knowledge.

Rei had her head in her hands, one still bleeding and shaking violently while the other threatened to tear her hair out. Tears dropped from her eyes like heavy rain, and her whole body convulsed, her voice broke as she repeated what she had said earlier. "I can't, I can't, _I can't, I can't I can't I can't –"_

"I won't ask you anymore, so stop it!" He said, his hand torn between touching her and not. It hung awkwardly in between them as he continued. "I won't ask again, alright? So calm down. Breathe, like you used to, remember? Inhale, count to four. Exhale, count to four."

She heard him, at last, and started breathing as he instructed. He actually learnt that from her, the _count to four_ technique. It wasn't to his liking, at first, but with all the things she had told him, it proved useful in many situations, but to think he had to use it like this…

Her breathing slowed, the erratic pace, the shallowness, they slowly dispersed and her pattern returned to normal. She took a few extra deep breaths more.

"…I'm sorry I asked." He said after she had returned to a somewhat normal state of mind. She looked up at him, frowning slightly, her lips ajar. She blinked a few times, and something dawned on her face.

"…It's… alright. I'm just… I'm not ready to talk about it." She murmured back, looking at the ground. "…Your uniform's ruined… sorry."

"It's fine." He said, slowly getting up and offered her a hand. She looked at it in puzzlement. After waiting for her response – which never came – he sighed exasperatedly and put his hand in front of her face. "Now get up. You need a good rest, Akihiro."

"Ah… right…" She muttered, taking his hand hesitantly. He pulled her up a bit too quickly, but she seemed just fine adjusting. "Thank you."

He felt guilty, forcing her on her knees (indirectly) like that. Swallowing his pride and stupidity down with difficulty, he muttered, barely audible to even himself. "I'll… wait. You can tell me when you want to."

She didn't respond, but her lips curled up into a slight, but genuine, smile.

* * *

The Town Hall's attic, from what the chief told him, was one used as reception for visitors. As such, it had four separated rooms, one with two beds, and each had its own full-functioning, high-end bathroom.

Once they arrived, Rei took off her shirt (without warning him, dammit), and that was the only time he saw the large slash wound across her back, from her right shoulder – where the wound was deepest, exposing a part of her bone – to her left waist.

Ignoring her half-naked state (he silently thanked Rei for using sport bras, because that much skin showing was enough to distract the fuck out of him already), Kanda approached her and stopped when he was two feet away. She turned to look at him, and he responded by gesturing awkwardly at her back. "Your back – is it going to be okay?"

"Ah, this?" She said, turning away a bit more to give him a full view of her wound. She paused, frowned, and muttered. "It… does hurt, when I think about it. Mental stress… tends to make you ignore injuries."

"I'll call the doctor –"

"There's no need." She cut him off, unhooking the belt from her pants and threw it carelessly to the sofa. She stood still for moments longer. "It'll be fine. I can have it assessed in the morning."

"But it's deep. I think –"

"Since when do you care about other people's well-being?" She half-snapped, half amusedly asked him, smiling faintly as she (painfully) reached for two white towels, a shampoo, a liquid soap and the clothes provided by the village chief. "I thought you, quote; _"don't give a fuck about other's businesses"_."

"Since I know you, idiot." He replied without thinking.

And they both took a long damn time before that sunk in.

His eyes must have widened quite comically at this point. Did he regret saying that out loud? No… he didn't think so. But was he embarrassed?

Hell yes.

Her eyes lingered on him, her expression unreadable, partly due to her poker-face skill and partly due to the lack of proper lighting. He thought she might freak out or something along that line, but all she did was turn her back to his, putting down the bathing wares, and balancing herself with both hands on the wooden desk before her.

After what seemed like eternity, she said. "…Please tell me you're kidding."

"I'm not." He said. And, stronger and louder, "I'm not joking."

"You and I both will regret it." She said, turning her head slightly to look at him with the corner of her eyes. There were a lot of things hidden under her rather threatening dialogue, but it was vague, unclear. It was as if Rei herself wasn't certain about what to feel.

"Why?"

"…It's not something I wish to talk about." She said, inhaling forcefully. "I'm – sorry, I'll go… bathing, now, if you don't mind… where will you sleep?"

"On the sofa, I think. You can take the bed."

"There are plenty of rooms here." She argued. "You can just pick one –"

"You can barely keep yourself awake as it is!" He pointed out, voice brimmed with annoyance. "I won't trust you with anything until you're sleep and well-rested, you goddamn idiot. So shut the fuck up, get yourself a bath, and go to fucking sleep. I won't repeat myself."

He… hadn't meant to do that.

But she accepted his reasoning with a strange, unsettling smile.

To his relieve, that smile soon turned less devious and more… accepting.

"You've made your point, and you're right." She finally said, her fingers dug into the towel a bit deeper than he's comfortable with. "I'm too good a liar, even to myself. I… _need_ rest."

"You sure as hell do." He said, crossing his arms. "Go on in. Give me a holler if you need anything."

"Thank you, Kanda-san."

She kicked off her bloodied boots and staggered in. Once the door was locked and the water started running, Kanda sat down on the sofa, leaning back and letting his body sunk in. He rested his head against the wall and started at a certain nail at the far side of the room.

Today has been… strange. He had never seen her broken down like that, and it made him too uncomfortable. Unnatural. Before Lenalee flew them over here, he got a called from someone he didn't know through a secured channel. He hadn't told anyone about it, because whoever called him used her name – something he begrudgingly admitted was now his weakness – to compel him to listen and obey.

 _He_ had said that… she had problems. Everyone does, actually, but people handled those problems differently. Her personality and her past caused her to be, due to the stranger's words, _reclusive_. Reserved, desolated. She doesn't trust people easily, much less open. Kanda believed the man. He had seen it first-hand, how she masked her reservations with conversations which, if anybody was even slightly more perceptive than they usually were, would have noticed the way she directed the topics out of herself.

She handled her stress, her problems similar to how he handled his, only that she was more sociable, more… _altruistic_ than he could ever be. And that was where it all went wrong.

Kanda had been watching, believe it or not, and the stranger's words proved his suspicions and cemented his observations; she had been attempting to isolate herself from the rest, slowly and unnoticeably. But he noticed. The way she laughed, the way she talked, they weren't meant to get her closer to others, but to get away from them.

 _Please, save her from herself. I can't do it, but I believe you could._

Hell, that man didn't leave him much choice.

And to the next topic; he asked the stranger who he was, and the man said he was her old friend. When pressed further, he introduced himself as a man named Aiden (he didn't know, he might've heard or even met the man, but hell, not many people here are worth remembering), and that he was Rei's _old friend_. When asked why he couldn't do it himself, the man simply cannot reply.

Aiden did promise he will _elaborate_ the situation a little once they got back, but that's all he'd said.

Well, so much for asking for a favor.

He… he was reluctance to admit how he felt. He still remembered Alma and the woman from his illusions. It was a feeling of longing of a man he once was, and he thought it was his own, too. But after knowing her –

He realized that he had, inevitably, fallen for the woman he barely knew.

There's so much strangeness about his attachments to her that it was no different than how he wished to live to see the strange woman he saw in his dreams, so long ago.

Maybe it was how she was familiar to him, or how she handled herself. How her thought processes work. Kanda didn't believe in love at first sight, but after thinking thoroughly, he believed that just might be the case.

This was ironic on so many levels.

"To think it'd be me who fell in love first, of all people… hah."

He voiced that out loud and gave out a bitter laugh. He thought it would be Lavi and his flirtatious nature, or the Beansprout and how friendly that bastard was. To think it would be him; the cold-hearted, bastardly lab rat like him. He shook his head and smiled.

He was jerked out of his thoughts when the door opened. The steams from the bathroom made Rei's figure blurry at first, and he couldn't refuse her _beauty_ when she got out of the room.

She had changed into low-quality fabric nightgown, sure, but the way the shirt hung loosely from her shoulders and the way it accented her curves made the lack in quality negligible. Her pants were relatively normal, save for the way they hug against her hips – if he had not been him, he might have drooled and blushed. But no, Kanda had too much pride to allow such unsightly display, so instead he looked away and focused on a taint on the window before him.

She walked pass him, a soak towel draped over her uninjured shoulder while the other one was used to dry her silken black hair, with droplets of water still dropping down the wooden floor like rain. She went to sit by the table, her eyes on the candle light swaying ever so slightly by the breeze from outside, through the only opened window in the room.

From where he was, Kanda could make out her left arm, the bandage removed for showering. They were clearly teeth marks, all the way from her upper arm down to her wrist. He saw her hand shaking, too, and it wasn't out of fear. It was because she was in pain, maybe?

Before he knew it, Kanda was up on his feet, walking towards her. She hadn't realized he was closing in until his fingers were wrapped around her injured arm, causing her to wince.

"Kanda-san, what –"

"Seriously, Akihiro, these wounds are so fucking obvious even the blinded could _feel_ it. Are you planning to leave it till morning?"

"…With the doctors having their hands full trying to stabilize Lavi? Yes."

"I can dress wounds." He said without thinking.

Apparently, he wasn't the only one taken aback by that statement. "What?"

"I can dress _your_ wounds." He said, leaving her arm on the table and went to his luggage. Every exorcist was more or less trained as much as a field medic would, because Komui deemed it necessary. It _is_ very handy. And he was glad Rei's piercing glare back then made him go and take the course.

"Kanda-san, it wasn't necessary –"

"Don't argue with me, woman." He snarled. "Your left arm is useless as it is. What do you think you'd gain by not having it looked at? Sooner or later you'll have to ask someone to look at it. Leave it for too long and it might get irreversibly damaged!"

"I've looked at the wounds, and it's _fine_ , really." She argued back. So Kanda purposefully yanked the arm toward him, and pointed down at the still oozing blood and flapping skin.

"This is so _not_ okay."

"Kanda-san –"

"Shut up." He said, propping the dressing kit on the bed and kicked the leg of her chair, causing her to give him better access to her arm. She yelped at the sudden change in her positioning, and inadvertently hit him across the head with enough force to make him see stars. "Ouch!"

She yelped again. "Sorry!"

"For a tired, almost dead-on-the-feet woman, you sure hit hard." Kanda said, rubbing his temple gingerly and prodded her arm on the table. "Now stop being so pathetic and let me take care of these… _things_."

She didn't try to escape, so he assumed she had _finally_ agreed.

After minutes of silence, she said, almost too silent for him to hear; "Thank you, Kanda-san."

He replied like how he did weeks ago, where he hurled her back to the ICU. Only, this time, he elected to call her differently.

"You're welcomed… _Rei_."

* * *

 ** _He finally confessed (even if that was only to himself)! :D Yey? Maybe not, all things considered. Well... you guess who calls her, and I'll give you an invisible cookie! :D_**

 ** _Anywho, see you in two weeks. So much work to be done. Sorry for not updating more often :v_**


	12. Chapter 12

**_It's been three weeks! Sorry for not posting, work is hard and my life is just bad XD_**

 ** _Anywhos;_**

 _frenzy4eva - I earn some medical terms reading this. Save Lavi please! And enjoy your post exam time!_

 _Answer - Thank you very much! Well, I aim to educate and pleases you guys XD. You'll see Lavi soon, worry not, and I've enjoyed and spent my post exam time doing nothing but... youtubing and other useless shits XD_

 ** _Also, any more reviews are welcomed! I appreciate your support! Without further ado, let's continue on with the story, shall we?_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter Twelve: Nightmare_**

 _"_ _You sure about that? It could trigger…"_

"I'm certain. As I am now, I won't be able to do a damn thing."

Kanda woke up calmly in the dead of night. He hadn't raised his head or opened his eyes right away, instead he took his time getting used to the sound of the light rain outside, and the sound of another's even breathing. There was ruffling of clothes, and someone's voice cut through the silence of night.

 _"_ _Galahad had arrived. You can train with him, unarmed versus weapon of his choice."_ The man from the other side said. Kanda remembered the sounds of wings fluttering and the slight static barely noticeable; it was clearly his golem she was using. Did he mind? No, but he was disturbed by the fact that she had not asked him. But he elected to listen, for now.

"We've done that before, in the past." She said calmly. He could hear what he reckoned to be annoyance in her voice. "I'd rather train with weapon as well, in case I need the _Demon Armor_. That thing can defend, certainly, but its offensive prowess is subpar. I'd like to get that fixed."

 _"_ _Then you can fight him with weapon while you use yours. It's simple."_ The man voiced. There was a pregnant pause between them, and a low, awkward whistle sounded from the golem. _"Oh…"_

"Yes, that." She affirmed whatever the man had realized. "If he's going to have a shot at me when I snapped… well, you get my point… That's why I want to do this three-on-one as often as possible, when you are all free. Holding back even a little while training unchained is just… it's _not_ a thing."

 _"_ _I understand. I'll make preparations."_ The man said, at last. _"There's one more thing. As we speak, Master Vincenzo has hired teams of erasers to eradicate any evidence about_ _ **that**_ _. They should be done before the Earl finds out. And, about that… who tipped the Earl off?"_

"Who do you think?" She half-snapped, something uncommon for her to do (outside of medical fields, Kanda noted sourly), and her voice brimmed with anger, boiling underneath the cold and calm surface. "There's very few who know about it, fewer who have information on the locations. And there's only one that wants me tortured."

 _The Owl?_ Kanda questioned silently. _What had Rei been hiding?_

 _"_ _Of course that would be a logical conclusion. However, other possibilities must not be overlooked. I'll give you the reports and intel gathered as soon as you got back. Estimate?"_

"Alexi just gave me updates on Lavi's condition. He's almost stabilized. We leave at dawn."

 _"_ _How are you?"_

"What's with the randomness?" She asked, amusement dancing in her tone. More ruffling of clothes, and she added. "And I'm fine. Thank you for asking."

 _"_ _You're lying."_ The man said flatly. _"You are fucking lying to me again, Ma'am. Don't do that. Just tell me the truth. How. Are. You?"_

"I'm f –"

 _"_ _Don't give me the bullshit!"_ The man roared in anger, accompanied by a loud _bang_ , probably from hitting whatever object was nearest. _"Don't lie to me, Rei, not now, not_ _ **ever!**_ _You think we don't know better? You are an_ _ **idiot!**_ _"_

To Kanda's surprise, she didn't retaliate. Instead, she remained silence for minutes on end. The opposite party of the conversation said nothing, either, and the air grew heavy. Kanda stirred, but not enough to draw attention to himself.

That's when she said; "Nightmares."

 _"_ _About?"_

She sighed heavily. Kanda chanced looking up, and saw that she was sitting by the window, her head against the cold glass, her eyes looking to the dark and unseen horizon. Her eyes were full with sorrows as she spoke. "…A lot of things that I've done. I questioned my judgements to this day."

 _"_ _Their bloods aren't on your hands, Ma'am."_ The man said. Blood? What did she do? Did she kill someone?

"I have to face the consequences of my actions, Aiden. You can't convince me to think otherwise." She said.

 _"_ _They have made their choices long ago, and all of them know what would come of it. And so have you. But you chose what's better for the greater good – sacrificing an arm or a leg to save a man's life is what you live by, isn't it?"_

She laughed bitterly. Kanda felt like something was crushing on his chest at the sound of it, so unnatural, so painful.

"The difference between a life and a limb is that taking a life has more to it than you can see. Can you feel it still? That every time you do it, you're giving something away?"

 _"_ _I'm not as altruistic as you, so I don't. We don't, actually. They've made their choices to be there, to cost us the war. If you hadn't done what you did, none of us would've been here."_ The man, Aiden, tried to reason with her.

Kanda could piece it together a little better now – difficult choices, those are what's eating her silently from the inside. And she wouldn't let go.

"Yeah…" She agreed. Although her heart wasn't agreeing to the idea itself, her reasoning, her brain, did. "Yeah… we do what we must. They've made their choices, so have we. This is war."

 _"_ _Stay safe, Ma'am."_ Aiden said after a pause. _"I'll be seeing you."_

"And I you."

She cut the line and stayed like that for a good few minutes. Kanda thought he had heard enough, so before she decided to do anything else, he got up.

Rei gave him a surprised look. "Kanda-san… you were awake?"

"Yeah." He replied as shortly as he could, stretching one arm above his head, his eyes never left hers. She diverted them to the floor when his gaze became investigative. Without waiting for her excuses, he stalked towards her, dragged a chair with him and planted it down before her, the back rest facing in her direction. He sat down, his arms crossed atop the back rest. "For a while."

"For what it's worth," She said, looking out the window again, and up at the absent moon. "For what it's worth, I… I make no excuses for taking lives."

"I know you don't." He replied shortly, his eyes bore into hers still. But no, she refused to look back. "But that man is right. Whatever the reasons are behind their actions, if they're compromising you and your comrades' safety, killing them is the right thing to do."

"Said someone who had never taken a live," She murmured with a smile, finally turning her face in his direction. She leant her head against the window and looked at him through her lashes, face unreadable. "There's no reason in the world good enough to justify killing a man, Kanda-san."

"Do you judge the police who shot a murderer to save a civilian's life guilty, then?" Kanda asked, ignoring the not taking a life bits. Of course he had. But that was mentioned in the reports, so of course she would know. Why she hadn't considered it a kill was beyond him… but that wouldn't work against someone like her. He had to find another way to convince her that her kills were backed by good reasons. "Would you blame a man who kills another to save his family?"

"It's not the same thing."

"It sure as hell is."

"It's irrelevant."

"You're out-reasoned, and now you're being a fucking moron, Akihiro." Kanda snarled through gritted teeth, his hand reached for her wrist and yanked at it hard enough to force her to look him in the eye. "You know what I said and what you did is the same fucking thing."

"What do you know what I've done?" This time, she didn't hide her anger and let it burst out, not in flames, but in sheering cold that could freeze hell itself three times over. She pulled her arm back and slapped him, hard enough to crack his lips and draw out blood, sending him stumbling off the chair in surprise. She rose from her seat and looked down at him, fists clenched and shook. "What do _you_ know? You don't have a clue. Don't go ranting idiotic monologues about _'you did the right thing'_ when you have no idea what crimes I've committed in the name of this war."

"Then tell me." He forced out, propping himself up on his elbow, his fingertips brushed away the blood tickling down his chin. "So tell me, and let me tell you what the fuck I think of it."

"What you think does _not_ matter." She said. "Nor my opinion on the things I've done. _They_ are the one who'd judge me." She pointed out the window, into the darkness beyond. There was no longer _just anger_ in her voice… now, it was mixed with _fear_. "And they're right. I deserve retributions. I deserve to be called out there and get beaten to death. But I will not – not until my duty here is done."

"Of course my thoughts and yours matter, you _idiot!_ " He snapped back, rising up quicker than she'd anticipated and took her hands into his before slamming them to the wall, pinning her between the wood and his body. "I don't give a fuck who they are. They don't have the rights to judge you for what you did to save yourselves and others. I don't need to hear the whole story. I know you. I know you did everything for others, and not yourself."

"You know _me?_ " She repeated and, much to his dismay, started laughing at the emptiness above them. "You? Know me? No, Kanda-san, you don't. You don't know who I am – _What_ I am. You don't know me. No one does. No one will."

She had stopped laughing now, and hung her head, defeated. Sensing no more resistance from her, he let her hands go and stepped back, his concentration still focused on her features; the way she breathed, the way the laughter died down. What's left on her face now was a weary smile.

"Just –" She began, her voice hoarse. "You'd do well not to stray too close to me, or you might get burned."

He frowned, looking at her strangely. "…Why?"

"I am not _what_ you think I am, Kanda-san." She said, smiling sorrowfully as she slide down the wall, back to her chair, and held her head in her hands. "I don't want to hurt anybody."

Seeing that, he –

He just couldn't ask any more than he already had.

It's… too much.

* * *

They hurried back to the Order as soon as the sun rose up from the skyline.

Alexi went with Lavi to the OR. Rei was forced to check in at treatment room by the wards. And he was glad Alexi talked her out of going to surgery in that condition, because if she did, she might just pass out in the field.

After given a troubling report to Komui, they were given a short break. That man had sent Marie and Daisya to their supposed original mission. After all the mental shit he'd seen Rei pulled, he supposed this was a very good idea. After he left Komui's office, he promptly ignored the other two and went to the medical wings in hope to –

In hope to what?

He realized then that he had come to care quite a great deal – more so than he'd like – about that idiot woman, much to his chagrin. There was this strange feeling that she _needed_ help. And from what that man – Aiden, he thought the name was – had asked of him, plus him seeing Rei broke down first hand, he felt like he just had to check in on her or whatever else along that line.

When he arrived at the treatment center, he found Rei sitting crossed-arm by the corner, probably waiting for her turn. Many finders and CROWs were in the room, waiting for the same thing. Names were being called, albeit slowly, but judging from how she blew at her hair, it might take quite a while for her to get her injuries threated.

Without further delay, he stride past aisles after aisles and sat at the vacant seat beside her before she even noticed him.

She glanced at him, unsurprised and uncaring, before returning her attention to her previous task; picking her nails.

"So," He began, a bit awkwardly. "Sorry."

"Apology accepted." She said, shifting in her seat and turned to look at him fully, now. She gave him a faint smile and a quick nod before turning her focus to the dirt beneath her nail. "You know, Kanda-san, I've never thought you to be the asking type."

"Nor I, really." He snorted.

For almost an hour after, he just sat there, not really looking at anything while Rei seemed more intent on taking that dirt out from under her nail. The silence was awkward, at best, and people around them seemed to notice it somehow; most slowly backed away while some just outright got up and went somewhere else.

When the nurse called her name, Rei got up and walked directly towards her. He thought that was just going to be the end of it when she turned back –

"Kanda-san," She said quietly, looking down for a moment before glancing up and offered him a smile – neither forced nor faked, but a real, authentic one – before bowing her head slightly. "Thank you… for trying."

She went behind the green curtain, and he'd never seen her again that day.

* * *

The operation took nearly twenty-three hours, but they finally did it.

"His vitals are stable, and we've stopped all the bleeding and correct all major deformities." Alexi declared as he pulled off his surgical mask, walking briskly beside Lavi's bed. He lay unconscious, with drainage tubes sticking out from his skin. He then nodded towards the grayed-uniform one. "Can you take it from here?"

"Of course," He said, thumping at his chest proudly. "I'm the only one not getting yelled ay by Rei-san, so I'm pretty confident. Not that I should be worried in the first place, since I'm an _anesthesiologist_ , unlike you."

"Don't rub that mistake on me, dude." Alexi replied with laughter. "Gimme a call if you're moving him up to the ICU – and pass that info to Chief, too, you know… to cull her worries."

"Will do." The anesthesiologist nodded back. "Have fun sleeping."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

So the gray doctor and nurses took Lavi to the recovery room to make sure he had no… immediate complications. For such an extensive surgery, that might take hours on end before he can be safety discharged to the ICU. Alexi yawned then stretched his arms up above his head as he walked to the opposite way, ignoring the exit from the operative corridor, and made it to the doctor's quarters.

Well, somehow along the way, he had schedule himself another surgery four hours from now, so he might as well catch some shut-eye here. He glanced at the clock – oh damn it's already fucking _noon_ , perfect – but ultimately decided against getting food. Sleep won.

When he opened the door, he was greeted by a rather… unnerving sight.

"Chief?" He called at the woman sleeping (or trying to) in one of the beds, her uninjured arm raised to cover her eyes. At his calling, she peered from the gap and gave him a weird look. He blinked once, twice, then, "Why in the world are you here!? You're supposed –"

"Not so loud." She groaned, rolling to the side, facing the wall. She pulled the pillow and pressed it against her ears. "Just help repaired ruptured AAA."

"I gave you _no permission_ to _work!_ " He whispered-yelled at her, his face contorted into a mix of disbelief, anger and worry. "And you're here after AAA surgery? Really? I can't change what you've already done, but now I can, so get the fuck out of this bed and back to your room!"

"You have surgery in four hours." She pointed out groggily, pulling the pillow off her face enough to show him her eye. "I want in."

"No, you will not."

She groaned again and raised her left arm. He raised an eyebrow at that, but before he could really ask, she explained. "The bite might be deep, but the marks are all stitched. No blood, no weakness, no numbness… I'm fit for duty."

"You forgot to mention the large-ass gash. And the anemia. You had _twenty two percent hematocrit!_ "

…Usually, the hematocrit – blood concentration – would vary from around thirty-ish to forty-ish in normal people. She lost too much blood, and thus, the anemia. She was so unfit for duty!

"Mmm… wake me when your patient's in." She mumbled.

"No, I will not."

"Do it, or I'll nitpick the crap out of every orders you made in the wards."

"…You cheater."

"The correct wording would be 'You Exploiter'… FYI."

"…I hate you." He said what he was thinking at the very moment. Most of the time, he respected her, see her as a little sister who outshined him by a huge fucking margin. Most of the time, she was nice (except in surgical fields. Every single one knows she's a fiend once she put on the green suit and hold a scalpel or, in some cases, _hammer_ ), and most of the time, she was rational.

Well, not this time, though.

She waved her hand like she was swathing a fly and mumbled incoherently, rolling again so that she was face-up. Pulling the pillow fully off her face, she propped up on her elbows and rubbed her eyes with her injured hand's finger, ridding herself the tears building up during her nap.

"I know you love me." She muttered, smiling innocently at him. She then reached for the curtain, pulled off its restraint, and let it veiled her forms as she fell back along with it. "Wake me, okay?"

"…fine." He said at last, laughing mostly to himself. Well, seeing how she didn't flinch or other things, it was safe to assume that the wounds weren't as bad as it looked. He meant, really, when he caught a glimpse or two of her injuries, he thought she might even need surgeries. Besides, she had told him once that working was one way to let her, quote; " _Gets my mind off stuffs"_.

"How's Lavi?" She asked, concern written all over. If he could see her face, Alexi thought she might've been frowning and biting her nails.

He pulled the curtain up and tapped at her shoulder, forcing Rei to turn and look at him.

He smiled, inducing her to do the same. "He's fine, now. Lots of blood loss, sure, but stable. Mostly vascular damages and a few burns, but nothing too major… except for the cardiac tamponade bit and the whole femoral artery rupturing twice thing. There's still his blood on the OR's ceiling as we speak."

She groaned. "You can spare me the details."

"I thought you'd wanna know." He grinned, tapping her forehead playfully. She rubbed at it and stuck out her tongue at him, so he tapped her temple. "Now go sleep. Don't worry, I won't risk you nitpicking my orders for a surgery. But only once, or I'll use force to kick you outta here."

"Roger that, sir." She mock-saluted him. "Now lemme sleep… warm bed…"

He smiled and shook his head, even though she would not see it, and took off the hat on his head and tossed it to the side. Kicking off his shoes, he plopped down on the bed opposite from her and stared at the ceiling (or rather, the bed above) as he closed his eyes.

And given that they'll have yet another twelve-hour operation in four or less hours, plus Rei's dead-tired state, it'll be hell in the OR if they messed up even by a syringe's width.

And, trust him; she knew how to kill people with words.

Just thinking about it sent him chills.

* * *

When Lavi woke up, he was greeted by so much white his eye hurt.

He blinked, and then blinked again. The last time he was lucid (not really), he had a tube shoved down his throat and a lot of narcotics he wasn't even sure if those were dreams or not.

But there was nothing in his mouth. His legs was bandaged and put in traction device, pulling his leg slightly upward. The weigh hung from the end of his bed and out of sight. His whole body was covered in so many shits he felt so damn hot and sweaty.

He exhaled a little louder than usually, and as soon as he did that, he felt someone walking over to the side of his bed.

"You're awake." Rei said, a gentle smile on her face. She wore her white gown with her frameless glasses hanging from her nose. She passed the chart in her hand to someone else before standing right beside him, both hands on the railing of his bed. "How are you feeling?"

"…Dizzy," He said. His voice was hoarse from the disuse and the abuses it had underwent, but all in all, it wasn't that bad. He glanced around, finding that he was surrounded by a lot of machines and monitors. He raised his arm slowly and painfully, brushing his burnt cheek, now covered in gauze. "…What –"

"I'll give you full details later." She said, putting a finger on her lips. He frowned – he did want some answers, because everyone knows he had a tendency to want to know everything, disregarding the appropriateness and shits – but eventually relented. He really wasn't in a position to actually say anything now, anyway.

"Rei…" He began, coughing as his throat dried. She patiently waited for him to gain his bearing, and once he did, he continued. "Thanks…"

"For what?" She asked back. He could feel guilt hidden in her voice and eyes. She skillfully hid her facial expression by letting the light reflected from her glasses, but a split second before she did, he noticed, anyway.

"You saved me." He croaked. "The attack ain't your fault."

"But if I had eluded the Owl sooner, you wouldn't have been put in this state, Lavi." She said, bowing her head slightly and sighed. "I'm sorry… and I'm glad you're okay now."

"Don't be too hard on yourself." He said. "…How long, though?"

"Three days. One of those we spent… _repairing_ you." She replied while making an odd face Lavi couldn't really describe. She waved at the nearby nurse and ordered her something before shooing her off the room. With a smile, she added; "The results are satisfying. You'll be moved to regular wards in a few days."

"Not discharged?" He asked. He was hopeful he'll be back in action sometime soon, but from the look Rei gave him, Lavi could deduce that it wasn't the case.

She shook her head. "Sadly, it's not just your blood vessel that's torn. Your right femoral bone had fractured – into multiple pieces – and even with the Order's two-century equivalent of technical advancement, it'll still take time for your body to fully heal."

"How long?"

She shrugged. "A month, give or take a few days."

He paused to think, only to end up slamming his head back against the pillow and groaned. "Fucking dammit."

"Sorry."

"Not ya fault, Rei." He reminded her. "But hell, they're all Level Three, and it's the exact same number as when _you_ fight them off alone in Chita."

"Well, you're not as good as I am. So there you have it!" She teased, her hand reached for his head and rubbed it until his hair became a bird's nest. He weakly protested, but laughed at her treatment. She sighed once, straightened herself up and pushed her glasses up slightly. "Well, it's good you're awake and able to communicate. The moss code we used back there was unpleasant."

"On my end, too." He muttered, earning himself her chuckle. "And gramps?"

"He's on a mission." She replied shortly, her hand adjusting at something by the IV line. "I'm reducing the amount of painkillers you're having, since you didn't seem to be in that much pain. Gives a holler if something changes."

"Will do." He replied. "Now get going, doc. I'm sure others need ya."

"They sure did." She said with an absent smile. "They sure did."

She left the room, and before long, he was dragged back into unconsciousness – dark, warm and comforting.

* * *

A week passed by in silence. Not much missions to do and too much free time.

And as per usual, this free time didn't count a certain workaholic doctor in.

"She seemed like she will fall down on her face and die of exhaustion." Lenalee commented as she put self-brew black coffee on Komui's table. She had not seen much of Rei, not that she usually had, but the rumors were unsettling.

"Believe it or not, it's how she deals with stress. And that is what I quote from her." Komui said and took a sip, his eyes scanning the reports Rei submitted about her field project on Innocence and their physiology. Lenalee didn't understand a speck of it, of course, but the length and sheer volume of results were staggering. Rei must've worked quite hard to accomplish this goal.

"Have you seen her outside of the OR yet?" She asked absently. "She'd only come out, as I heard from Alexi-san, _more than Komui out of his office lately._ "

Her brother slammed his head into the table, surprising both herself and Fray at his sudden movement. He groaned. "Why am I always getting compared for that? Alexi included! So unfair."

"Because you are somehow here more than you are anywhere else, and all members of the Order knows your name. So of course you're going to become a base reference." Lenalee pointed out, crossing her arms and pressing her steel tray closer to herself. "And you're a workaholic. Like her!"

"To be frank, she takes her work more seriously than Supervisor Komui ever did." Fray added from the side and chuckled when Komui pouted at her. She then returned her face to normal and added. "But on this one, I'll have to agree with you, Miss Lee. Miss Akihiro has been… restless since she and Lavi were attacked in Holstebro."

"Restless is an understatement."

The new voice gained their attentions. The one who said that was no other than Alexi himself, who now wore loosely-tied necktie, crumbled white shirt with his gown draped on his arm. He rubbed at his eyes for a minute before he walked to Komui's table and placed a pile of papers down. Lenalee followed his hand for a moment. "Alexi-san."

"Miss Lee." He greeted breathily with a nod, doing the same to Komui and Fray who nod in return. "Miss Fray, Supervisor."

"How is she?" Komui asked, clasping his hands together and leant slightly forward. "I imagined she had it rough."

"She did." He responded tiredly and motioned his hand to the sofa, asking for permission to sit. Komui granted him one while Fray picked up the medical reports and started skimming through. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Alexi murmured. "And she refused to go anywhere outside the medical wards or the OR. I can't persuade her to take her time off anymore."

"That bad?"

"Yes, sir." He said grimly. "That bad, sir."

"Maybe I'll have to talk to her myself." Komui said and got up. Fray, agreeing with his plan, didn't stop him, but the one who did was Alexi. Komui gave him an odd look. "Why are you stopping me?"

"I'd like you to talk to her, as well, but this… isn't exactly the time." He said. Upon receiving questioning looks, he elaborated. "It's not just Lavi that makes her… well, like this. She had been contacted by the College of Cardinals behind your back, Supervisor."

There was a three seconds pause, and the three of them yelled. " _What!?"_

"They called, and saying that every time they did she'd get pissed is more than an understatement. She would've thrown the mallet we used in orthopedic surgeries at the wall if I hadn't been there." Alexi said, paling at the memory. Lenalee couldn't imagine her being like that, though, but her brother seemed able to, and from his paled face, she believed he believed that.

"What do they want from her?" He asked. "Lvellie didn't tell me this."

"Because that man isn't responsible for it," Alexi replied with disdain clear in his voice. A sigh and he continued. "They called at least twice a day, and most of the calls got her worked up pretty badly. Sometimes she seemed torn and in pain, while others she seemed to want to tear them apart. And no, I don't know the details. She spoke with them in private."

"And working helps her how…?" Lenalee quipped in.

"It gets her mind off things like that." Alexi shrugged. "When she works, she gets into what I'd call a _zone;_ a state of mind where she concentrates on what is in front of her and that alone. It's amazing how she seems to forget about any ongoing emotional wrecks she's experiencing or her worries."

Lenalee could detect the awe in his voice, and the way his eyes gleamed with unrivalled admiration. She let a faint smile formed on her face as she saw that child-like total admiration he displayed. She understood him, because she had talked to Rei about how to get stronger both physically and emotionally many times, and her advice had been very helpful.

"Can't you really force her off-work?" Komui asked. "I mean, you did that before with your director assistant of human resources… thing…"

"It's not like I haven't thought about it." He said, shivering unintentionally. She frowned. What could've gotten him so terrified? "Imagine this; Chief, as we know her, being her usually uptight self in the OR, plus being constantly called and angered two to five times daily for four days, _plus_ having two shit-teams – well, not really, but some of them were _drunk_ – for surgeries. Do you think I'll have the _balls_ to _order_ her around?"

Komui paled further, if that was even possible. "…no?"

"Nope." Alexi affirmed. "Certainly no. Well, I'm just here to give you the med reports, so…"

He stood up and, before walking passed her, he whispered in her ears before talking to Komui again;

"Meet me outside. Wanna talk – I'll be going now, Supervisor. Take care."

"And you." Komui seemed oblivious to Alexi's request, Lenalee noted, as her gaze trailed after the doctor before he disappeared out the door.

She stayed and talked with the two of them for a while before excusing herself out, saying that she wanted to visit Lavi (who spent most of his time sleeping) and walked out the door as normally as she could. As soon as she rounded the nearest corner, she spotted Alexi standing by the stairs, arms crossed with a frown on his face.

He looked up and smiled when he saw her. She smiled back and walked up to him, leaning against the wall in the same manner he did, her hands behind her back with the tray in her grip. "You wanted to talk?"

"Yeah, about Rei." He said, bringing out a pack of cigarettes and popped out one. He took it in his mouth and searched for a match in his pocket. "You mind if I smoke?"

"Not unless you blow it in my face." She replied. He nodded, acknowledging her permissions and brought his foot up, lighting the match on the sole of his shoe with one swift movement of his hand. He lighted the cancerous stick in his mouth with a hand covering any smoke he might've accidentally blown her way. "So… do you need my help with something?"

"Women and your impeccable instincts." He laughed lightly. "Yes… I've talked to her. Komui had once, and no good came of that. My standings with her are… complicated, to put it lightly. I am her subordinates, she my mentor… out of work, we're friends, but inside it I can only do so much. Even if I'm an assistant to human resource's director, I can't outright force her out of work unless I go get papers from the director, who was scared shitless by her."

"Well… that's…"

"I know." He replied to her unspoken comments. "She had her ways… in order to do things she wanted. And Supervisor Komui is no better – speaking to her as her superior, and she'll find a way around, saying that, by her every word, mind you; _someone else might've gotten it wrong._ "

"So what do you want to ask of me, Alexi-san?" She asked, sniffing a little as the scent of smoke sunk into her nose.

"I need a friend. Someone who stands on equal ground as she is." He said and looked straight at her. "An exorcist. Someone like you."

"…Why me?" She was genuinely curious. Someone like Bookman, who seemed the most rational, or Marie, was all obviously better choices. "I don't think I'm going to be good at making Rei-san sees reason. Marie might be better –"

"She needs words from someone who's a close friend, not big-brother figure or a grandparent." Alexi replied, puffing out more smoke and looked up at the ceiling above his head. "Please try. She'll drop dead at any moments now… and unless she stopped being so irrational, that figure of speech will become quite literal."

"I… understand." Lenalee relented, at last, sighing. "I'll try, but no promises."

"That's all I need." He smiled back and straightened himself up. "Well, I'm heading for a good day's rest now. I'll be seeing you later, and fingers crossed for good news."

"Wish me luck." Lenalee said absently.

How in the world is she going to pull this off?

* * *

She found Rei in one of the corridors by the Ark gate, probably just returned from calling of the College of the Cardinals.

She rested her arms on the railing, her eyes on the dark horizon and her jaws set as the golem beside her beeped, sounds of two people talking could be heard even from Lenalee's distance. Rei could be seen sighing over and over, and after one particular bout, she slammed her head on her own arms and just stayed like that, whispering something to the golem.

After the line was cut, or at least the conversation was halted, Lenalee decided to walk towards her peer. Upon hearing her rather light footsteps, Rei turned to her and gave her a weary smile before scooting to the side slightly, giving her the room to join in.

Once she did, the woman tilted her head to the side slightly. "So, Lenalee… why are you up so late?"

She laughed sheepishly, scratching the side of her cheek. "Would you believe me if I told you I just want to stretch?"

"I know your schedules enough to say that your statement is untrue." Rei said with a smirk, this time. She then sighed and looked at the moon. "So, who was it?"

"Who was what?"

"Alexi-san or Komui-san?" She asked. Lenalee tried her best to look clueless, but Rei saw past that, and a frown appeared on her face. "You can't lie to me, you know. You don't seek me out without reasons, Lenalee, and this is one of the more obvious ones. So, I'll ask again, who was it?"

"Alexi-san." She relented and bowed her head slightly. Rei chuckled, glancing back at her and waved her hand.

"It's fine, I'm not going to do anything." She reassured. "And to be frank, it's getting harder and harder to push myself like this. They're right; I need a break and a few days off, at least."

"Well, there goes days of me trying to figure out how to convince you." She said absently, into the sky, or to Rei, she didn't really care. She heard her peer laughed quietly at her words. She smiled. "I'm glad you finally decide to take a break, Rei-san."

"Yes, indeed. And I do appreciate the thought, Lenalee." She said, burrowing her face into the crook of her arms and looked up at the view before her, her lips curled into an empty, sorrowful smile. "I'll be fine. Don't worry."

Of course Lenalee didn't believe it.

But she supposed… Rei'd be fine for the time being.

* * *

 ** _Another fillers! Well, the speed'll pick up soon enough don't worry. I'm just giving the cast some rests! Aside from reviews, any questions are welcomed as well! :D_**

 ** _See you again later, because EXAM IN ANOTHER FUCKING TWO WEEKS GOD DAMNIT *rolls*_**

 ** _Alright, tata, have fun week-ending! :D_**


	13. Chapter 13

**_Hi! The exam was shitty, all of my guys had to retake it because of fucking technical diffuculty... But It's done! I'm freeeeeee! /rolls_**

 ** _Sad about no review and loss of followers though ;_; I'm sorry this story fail to deliver. I'll try my best._**

 ** _Anyways, reviews are always appreciated! Right, now, without further ado, let's continue the story!_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter Thirteen: The Darkness, Hidden in the Light_**

In this past two weeks, when she was not sleeping, Rei could only be seen either in the OR, at wards, in training grounds, or at the reclusive piano room where no one would look.

Well, except for Kanda, naturally.

But he really had no galls facing her… even after apologizing, the guilt welling in him and the embarrassment and _everything_ made him unable to look her in the eyes, and Kanda thought it might be… _for the best_.

Things had become rather awkward, and he must admit that he _missed_ her unusual company.

His legs carried him to the piano room yet again, and he found himself staying there, standing like an idiot that he was, and facing the door without bothering to even touch the handle. The soft sound from the grand piano inside calmed his nerves down, but at the same time made them flared. His eyes remained on the handle, and his fingers brushed at it.

He retracted his hand with a snort. He was an idiot to come here, and if she opened the door right now (though it was unlikely, since the distance between the piano and this door was considerable), he'd be _fucked_.

He was jerked from his inner turmoil when the song became strange as more and more wrong notes were hit. The rhythm, the notes, the feelings of the piece, everything became confused and wrong. So he took a deep breath and chanced opening the door slightly and peaked inside.

And he saw the reason for the sound to decline.

She… bowed too much, her left arm looked weak and was barely hanging on to the keys at this point. Her face was pale, and her brows knotted together with her facial expression indicating no small amount of pain. Rei didn't even notice him as he entered the room slowly and silently. The song continued for a few more seconds before her hands finally gave in and they dropped from the white and black keys, hanging limply by her side.

She lowered her head and rested it on roof of the piano, her eyes closed tightly as she attempted to control her breathing. Her hands shakily reached for a small silver container on the roof of the grand piano and next to her head, but her grip was weak, and the container rattled between her fingers a few times before it slipped and fell to the ground.

"Stupid, stupid…" She mumbled and kicked the seat backward. She bended down and reach for the container. "One's not enough. Two doesn't cut it. Stupid calculations, stupid three daily…"

She continued muttering nonsense (to him, anyway) as she popped out three black, spherical shaped pills down into her palm, glaring at it with a certain kind of hatred, then chugged them all down in one motion and slammed the container hard onto the keys, causing strange combination of sounds to resonate the hall, and inevitably made him jumped.

Her eyes quickly caught his form, and her expression turned cold – enough to cause his skin to crawl – as she addressed him with animosity. She then said, venomously, as she rose from her seat. "I do not appreciate being stalked, Kanda-san. When did you get in?"

"Only a few minutes back." He said too quickly, walking out of the shadow and hung between the nearest pillar and the door.

She stared at him a few seconds more as she walked for the door, only to stop when she was standing right beside him. She didn't even spare a glance as she addressed him again, even colder and more threatening this time. "Come with me, Kanda-san. There's something you have to do."

He really couldn't say no, could he?

He was dreading the outcome of his transgression at the very wrong moment where she was showing her vulnerability _without her permission_. He had no excuse of just stumbling upon her, either, since she was in a room that he deliberately allowed himself in. And his dread made a knot in his stomach as soon as he saw where she was heading;

The Training Ground.

It was about 17.00 pm, and thus the ground was filled with a lot of people training, exorcists and finders, mostly. The new instructor Galahad – if he even recalled the name correctly – was standing amongst the finders, instructing them in hand-to-hand combat. It is useless against Akuma, sure, but with the rise of many humans brokers, training in such arts might be beneficial.

Not that it would work against guns, but it's better to have something else up the sleeves in case of getting disarmed.

She stopped at the corner of the large training ground, where only a handful trained, and she stopped at one of them – Aiden – and greeted him with a nod before tilting her head in his direction. "I'm going to try something. Prepare some medkits, just in case?"

He blocked the blow from his female partner (Ma… something, her name was) and wiped the sweat off his forehead. "You can use this spot. I'll go prepare. You should warm up before doing anything, Ma'am."

"Yes." She replied shortly and signaled Kanda with her hands to do the same. He frowned, not even sure why she'd want to train now. And after seeing her that weak, he wasn't sure he'd have the guts to go at her seriously.

Before Aiden left to fetch the equipment necessary, he placed a hand on his shoulder, and he almost shook it off, only to be stopped when he said; "Be very careful. Don't hold back, especially if she wears that mask."

"What do you mean?"

"You've only trained with her while she wielded a sword." He said, glancing at Rei's direction and, after making sure that she wasn't paying attention to them, added with anxiety evident in his voice. "When she fights you hand-to-hand, it's going to be a different story. Don't even think of _holding back_ , unless you want to have broken bones. And when she put on that mask, slipping only for a second could mean disaster."

"But she's still weak!" He countered, shaking off the offending hand on his shoulder and shouted-whispered at the man. "She just let her pill bottle slipped a few minutes ago!"

"You don't know her very well." He said, his voice dead serious. "Trust me, do _not_ hold back. And be sure to defend your neck; that's where she usually strikes first."

He left without waiting for Kanda's response, and that meant he only had himself and Rei in that space – the damn finder Maria had left right before Aiden did, apparently – which did little to help quell the uneasiness that was polluting the atmosphere.

She stretched her muscles in silence, any signs of exhaustion or weakness gone from her body as she started punching and kicking the air leisurely. He knew her in fights well enough, and her skill with the sword was no laughing matter, but it still fell short to his own. And his skill with hand-to-hand combat is actually better than his swordsmanship, for some goddamn reason, so he was pretty sure Aiden's warning could be ignored.

He peeled the layers of his exorcist coat away, leaving himself only a sleeveless shirt. He supposed he could leave the boots on, since it wasn't the steel-tipped or anything. Besides, he was pretty damn sure his kicks are weaker than his punches, so there really was no point to concern himself with his footwear. He put his arms up above his head and started stretching the joints and muscles there, grunting as strange sounds of his muscles being forced to relax.

"You should listen to his warning, Kanda-san." Rei said without looking at him, now stretching at her legs and knees. Her face was expressionless, which scared him more than the cold one she used to look at him earlier.

"I think I know your fighting styles well enough after all of our sparring." He noted gruffly, testing his jabs and hooks in the air. "Plus, your backgrounds and careers didn't promote much of self-defense training. You told me yourself you had minimal training."

"That is true." She said, and then turned to look at him. "But I'd take his advice seriously, regardless of what I've told you. You don't know me _at all_ , Kanda-san."

"I think I know enough."

"Don't blame me if I accidentally broke your arms or legs, then." She said as casually as she would comment on the weather or the food. He stared at her, but she had already diverted her gaze to the ground and resumed whatever she was doing.

Aiden decided to return with a bright red medkit, a real katana and a wooden one in his arms. He questioned the man with his gaze, but received no answer. The field researcher then nodded as Rei noticed him. "Ready when you are, just don't overdo it, yeah?"

"Isn't that the point of me asking Kanda-san? To _overdo_ it?" She said without a smile. She wasn't joking, and she sure as hell wasn't _pleased_ with Aiden's attempt at a lame one.

"Of course. My apologies." He said while inclining his head slightly. "So, what do you want to start with first?"

"Unarmed, unmasked." She replied. "I'd like to see how far I can take it against him. And depending on the results, you may or may not have to use the _Armor_ at first stage to _compete_ with me."

"Ah, _shit_." The man said, dropping down to the floor to sit cross-leg, his hand ruffling his hair out of its shape. "Kanda-san, you're one unlucky bastard."

"What the fuck was all that supposed to mean?" He said. Why would a single _mask_ change anything? Sure, it helped her flip the switch while combating against Akumas, but in training that ain't going to help much.

"You'll see in time." Aiden said and gave him a sympathetic smile. "Well, try not to die, alright?"

He snorted. "As if."

"I'm ready." Rei announced and walked to them, craning her neck to the sides and caused cracking sounds. Her face seemed satisfied enough to tell him that she was at her best right then and there, despite her earlier weakness episode.

"So am I." He echoed, cracking his knuckles and neck alike. Shaking his wrists to relax them to the fullest, he glanced up, and had strange feelings when he saw that her demeanor of blankness hadn't changed one bit. "So what? Are we going to start now?"

"Yes, please." She said, and entered a shoulder-wide, left foot first stance.

And the fight started.

A jab from her, he easily dodged that and countered with a low sweep. She stopped his kick by planting her body weight cleverly so that her leg was strengthened enough to withstand the attack. She actually smiled as she raised the same leg and countered him with a kick to his armpit. But he buffered that with a hand, slapping her leg to slow it down.

She stepped back and reentered her stance, a bit more relaxed this time. She looked at her leg and commented off-handedly. "I hadn't expected that."

"You have never fought me hand-to-hand, of course you don't." He said and entered a wide-gait stance of his own, both hand open-palm. He didn't plan on punching her, so I guess slapping would be fine. He snorted. "And to think that guy warned me about you. I see your hand-to-hand's shittier than your sword."

"I advise against that." Aiden called from the side. He ignored it.

"I hope you're not all bark and no bite, Kanda-san." She said with a cold smile as her muscle tensed again. "Because if that was the case… well, I have warned you, so no hard feelings?"

"No hard feelings." He nodded, and they tangled again.

This time, she was more aggressive, going for a straight, fast punch that grazed at his brow as he tilted his head to avoid it. The sound of wind whizzing passed his ear was enough to tell that it was faster than it looked. He stepped forward and used his palm to push at her punching arm before using the edge of his hand as a weapon and aimed for her throat.

She saw that and used her other arm to block before hooking her outstretched arm around his elbow and twisted it to her left. She retaliated with an arm aiming for his temple. He ducked down just in time and untangled his arm from hers before sending a kick her way. She used her knee to stop it in its track and backed away, thus concluded their second fight.

A grin crept up on her face, as it did his. She was really clever with the use of her body parts and her timing, but his reflexes and his experiences gave him too much leverage to fall for her trickeries. But she proved to be… _fun_ to fight against.

"Oh dear," Aiden breathed from the side, and he didn't understand that.

Well, he did when a full circle kick whizzed past his nose.

The sudden attack threw him off guard, and he found himself awkwardly leaning back by instinct, putting himself in a peculiar position. She closed the distance and tugged at the back of his belt, sending him tumbling back and fell flat. She didn't leave any opening when her right, free arm hooked back in a dangerous angle as she aimed for his throat.

He caught her fist in between his palms and diverted it enough for her fist to hit the floor instead of his face, and with a quick twist of his legs and hips, he threw her off him. Kanda stumbled up awkwardly and quickly skidded back, gaining a good distance as Rei craned her neck to the side a few times, rolling her shoulders and smiling strangely at him.

He noticed only then that he was panting. Wiping away the beads of sweat on his forehead, he muttered. "Well, shit."

He had no idea she had this kind of mobility, strength and _creativity_.

The last one was a given, but being an idiot that he was… well…

"Alright, time out!" Aiden said loudly, clapping his hands and drew their attention. He walked up to Rei then put his arm over his shoulder – and some fucking how, Kanda actually felt like replacing the man – and whispered into her ears. She raised her brows, and after a while nodded.

"That could or couldn't work." She commented while stretching her arms in front of her and did the same with her fingers, intertwining them to increase the effect. "So much _Paradox_."

"What's that?" Aiden question, amused.

"Nothing. Just an _inside-the-box_ joke." She replied with a laugh before looking at him, her face less relaxed and more uptight. "Well, Kanda-san. Here's how we will do it. You and I are going to fight it out until one of us yield. Don't hold anything back, and don't be afraid that you'll hurt me, either. I'm not easily beaten down."

"Haah, after that little bout, I don't think I can afford to." He said, shaking his shoulders and entering his low-center stance. "Now stop babbling and come at me, Akihiro."

"Will do."

* * *

It was like playing a game; every time he won, she ramped up the difficulty.

Kanda had no idea she hid this much potential. All the improvement in her sword fighting might as well be overshadowed by her talent in hand-to-hand combat. They tied, but her ability might even exceed him, a Second Exorcist. And that actually scared him quite a bit.

After an hour, where she went at him with, no at full power but close enough, and him fighting her with seriousness like he would on missions, they called for a break.

Somehow, she elected to sit next to him on the ground and offered him a bottle of water, as well.

They sat in silence, waiting patiently for their breathing to even out first before thinking of resuming their activities. And Kanda was glad the silence was not an awkward one; it was calm, like how it was before. And they spent the time together watching others sparring, particularly Allen and slightly-but-not-much-injured Lavi. From what he had heard, he recovered faster than Rei had anticipated – which was a good and intriguing thing that the doctors seemed to always discuss about in their free time.

"Sorry," He blurted out of the blue, and she looked at him in surprise. Before she could ask, he explained. "For… opening the door… before knocking?"

"You're forgiven." She said with a playful smile. "You caught me in one of those moments… can you just swept it all under the rug?"

"Is it being taken care of?" He asked, not that he expected anything.

Her face fell slightly as she replied. "It… is."

"Then I'll take your word for it." He said, catching the glimpse of surprise in her features. He handed her back the bottle.

"I wish… this could go on forever." She said with a pained smile on her face, her eyes not looking at him. She rested her cheek on her knee, her arms wrapped around one leg and pulled it close to her while the other stretched out relaxingly. Her eyes twitched slightly. "At least I got to enjoy it while it lasted, the peace in the midst of storm."

"You can enjoy it again when the war is over." He murmured, and again he surprised both Rei and himself. He had never believed that the war would end in his lifetime, but in spite of that he kept saying these stupid things. He turned to look at her. "What?"

"Do you really believe that? That the war will end with us?" Her voice was no more than a whisper. After pondering on it, he shook his head. He thought the war might go on forever or ended with their defeat.

"No. But at least, in thinking that, there is something to look forward to."

"That is… unexpected of you, Kanda-san." She murmured and looked at him with unreadable eyes. Sighing, she returned her gaze to Allen, who somehow was having his ass kicked by Lavi. "For me, thinking of those things is pointless – because I can't imagine myself alive by the end of it."

"What do you mean?" He asked without event thinking, something twisting in the pit of his stomach as he watched her. Somehow, he had an idea of what she might be thinking, but –

"No matter what, I _have_ to die before or at the end of this war."

"What!?" He exclaimed, drawing Aiden's attention to his own. He ignored it and stared at her in disbelief. "Why would you have to? That makes no sense!"

"Oh, but it does." She said with a sardonic grin as she shifted, now sitting with her legs crossed. She refused to look at him as she said, with more seriousness than what he'd heard in weeks. "It makes perfect sense. You said that because you _don't_ know me. When you do… no, I'd rather you _don't_ still."

"You have every rights to live if the war ends, Akihiro, more so than I do." He reasoned. But it was no use, it seemed she had already decided the matter.

"I am dangerous, Kanda-san… effective, unpredictable… brutal, and _dangerous_ – when you combined those qualities in one person, what do you think would be better; to let that person live, or to let that person die?"

"You are everything _but_ dangerous. Brutal, maybe, but you are no danger to _any_ of us." He snarled and got up to his feet. She followed suit without any retaliation. Damn, bringing all those shits up ruin all the good mood he had. "Fuck you, Akihiro. Now let's get this training session over with. Talking with you annoys me to no end."

Her face fell at his words. He might have said those a little too harshly, and he regretted it as soon as he saw her face. But then her jaws were set, her eyes hard as steel, and, "…Then I'll show you."

"What?"

"Then I'll show you how dangerous I can be." She said and made a hand motion towards Aiden, who took some kind of cue he missed. His face turned pale as he scrambled up. She eyed him and, for whatever reason, Aiden halted his stride. "Why aren't you walking here?"

"Ma'am, you _will_ regret this later." He said, a hand raised up, showing her that he was being rather submissive. She continued looking at him with ferocity, but Kanda couldn't see it all. All he could make out was the fear reflecting in the man's eyes.

"Regret what, pray tell?"

"You are not yourself." He said again, throwing the dummy sword and the real one to the side, far away from them both. He took the man's facial cue and stepped back slowly. She didn't pay him any mind as Aiden drew it away. "You are angry, I know that. But if you go through with this, you will regret it."

Her eyes lingered on the man's face moments longer before her features relaxed. She shook her head, eyes shut tight. After a while she slowly opened them and glanced his way. "Kanda-san… I'm sorry, but the session's over. Thank you for your cooperation."

"Are you okay, Rei?" Aiden said, approaching her cautiously. "You –"

"Just a lapse of judgement, is all." She cut him off. "I'm going back to my room now. Aiden-san… thank you for stopping me."

"No need to." He said with a slight bow, and she left without looking back.

"What –"

"Kanda," Aiden said, cutting off any questions he might have and glared at him intensely. He didn't back down, but the look might scare lesser people away easily. The man scanned his eyes for something then said, "Next time, don't try to provoke her. If she beats you to death, I'll hold you responsible for breaking her spirits any further."

"What the fuck was that supposed to mean?" He questioned, turning to face the man fully as he spat. "I can take on her just fine. She had holes I could take advantages of still, hand-to-hand or otherwise."

"You are this close to death, Kanda." He said, pinching his fingers together to indicate the thin line he was walking on. Of course, he didn't buy the shit. The man seemed to know what he was thinking, because before he departed, he added a bit more. "Please, be more careful. If this happens when there's no one to intervene, who knows what will transpire."

Aiden left without another word, leaving him fuming on his own.

* * *

"NO!"

Her scream jolted him up during the dead of night in the same day, and the despair, the fear in her cries; it was as if she had done something terrible.

It was rare for him to wake up by her nightmares – as frequent as it may – because lately, she rarely even ramped up her breathing when she had one (the wall wasn't as thick as most might think), but this time she _literally_ just screamed her lungs out, so he quickly got out of bed, Mugen in hand, and got to her room in a few long strides.

He opened the door, again without her permission, and found Rei curling into herself, her knees up to her chest, her head resting on them and her arms wrapped around all of it, as if to shut herself away from the rest of the world. Her whole body shook as if subjected to intense cold, and he could see the sheets wrapping her lower half of the body soaked in – _tears?_

"Akihiro…?" He called out reluctantly as he closed the door, careful not to make too much noise. She didn't respond, but he could hear the strings of words that kept pouring out of her mouth like stream of water. So he walked to the bed, footsteps light as a cat's, and slowly, gently, he placed his hand on her bare shoulder. "Hey –…"

"I'm sorry." She said shakily, sounding small and powerless all of a sudden. All the aura of death he had seen in the training was gone, replaced by this… vibe of someone who had done something unforgivable. Before he could say any more, she whispered. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Please leave me be, I don't want to see it anymore. Please –"

She choked and trembled, hugging herself even tighter than she had as tears – he assumed, since all he could make out was the increased in the soaked area of the sheet – kept pouring out. So he pressed his hand firmly, and somehow she registered that and looked up, tears still flowing freely from her eyes. She looked a bit dazed as she muttered his name.

"Kanda-san…?"

He elected not to say a word, instead conveying his concern through his actions and his eyes alone. They locked their gazes like that for minutes that stretched on and on infinitely. He didn't look away, nor did she, and many more things crossed her eyes – fear, regret, dread, despair – before the light returned, and she inhaled sharply.

The agony she had felt was so obvious in her eyes his heart couldn't help but felt a strange, alien tinge, like something was tugging at it, begging him to take a closer look. He gulped and slowly backed away. As he retracted his hand, hers shot up and she grabbed onto it for dear life, so he stopped. Awkwardly, he closed his fingers around hers as she continued mumbling senseless words and put his hand on her forehead.

"Akihiro –" He said her name again, unsure of what to do next. She responded by clenching her hands tighter, and he absently noted it would have had some bruises on it tomorrow. But at that point, Kanda couldn't have cared less. He placed Mugen down by the bed and lowered his face enough that he could see hers. Once he did, he asked, "What happened?"

She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head vigorously. Her voice was raw and dry as she mumbled. "Nightmares."

"It's becoming too frequent." He noted quietly. After moments of absolute silence, she looked up, her lips pressed into a thin line and her eyes full of doubts and the intense fear he could practically _feel_ wrapping around her like a mantle. "You need help. Let me –"

"No." She rejected weakly, drawing his hand to her forehead closer still. She breathed unevenly for a moment then murmured, "No one can help me with this – no matter what I do, it just keeps coming back."

"What did you dream about?"

It wasn't like he had never asked her before, but usually it wasn't this bad – she had never been this shaken-up before, and this was the first time she _actually_ answer about anything he had asked. So he chanced it, maybe in hope of understanding something more.

"The things I've done –" She said, choking on her own words as her voice grew quieter and quieter until it was barely a whisper. "I've done many terrible things in the name of the war… you know that…"

"I do." He muttered. She had mentioned this once or twice before, but never once had she elaborated. "But I know you do everything with good reasons, so whatever it is that you've done, I'm sure you've already atoned for it."

"I might have atoned for it, but I'm not forgiven." She muttered, letting go of his hand and scooted up until her back hit the bedpost. He blindly reached for a chair nearby and sat down, waiting for her to continue. She did after a minute or two. "There's never a good enough excuse to kill someone… less so when I let them _lingered_."

He was about to ask _what do you mean lingered?_ But he already knew that.

And it terrified him that someone so _sweet_ , so _caring_ , would do something like that. He might have expected it from Sokalo, or Cross, or even _himself_ , but no – not even in his wildest dreams would he think of Rei capable of such things. Killing? He didn't even think it'd possible until the moment she showed her bloodlust against the Owl, but that was well justified.

This? He didn't know what to _think_.

"Fear… has always been my greatest weapons." She said suddenly, bringing his thought into an absolute halt. Fear? Well, yes, fear is a great tool, but – "I've always tried to avoid conflict. But in the end, I never could. I was _drawn_ to it, as it to me. And these hands… I can't even _count_ how many lives I've crushed underneath my fingers."

She needn't continue.

 _And now, Fear becomes her greatest foe._

He didn't judge. He didn't tell her that she was right, nor wrong. He only sat there, listening as she confessed sins after sins with only her eyes and her body language. She needn't speak another word, because he could feel it; even an insensitive jerk like him could clearly see, written all over her, how much guilt was weighing her down like rocks, and she was drowning.

They stayed like that, in complete silence and darkness, only their beating hearts and their regular breathing echoing inside her room. She pursed her lips and curled into a ball, her eyes barely visible over her folded arms over her knees as she looked at nothing in particular.

Out of the blue, she murmured. "For me… to live, is to constantly sin… for me, to live, is to take from others… for me, live… is evil itself."

What was she saying?

Upon seeing his surprised, confused face, she gave him a faint smile and a small laugh. Burying her face even further into her arms, she murmured. "I'm sorry I woke you up… Kanda-san."

"What do you mean?" He asked after he found his voice and bended down until he could see her eyes. She quickly glanced away. "What do you mean by _"to live, is to constantly sin"_? Your live isn't evil, Akihiro. Hell, your live might be the purest one I've ever had the chance to encounter."

"Purest, hmm?" She muttered, thinking something as she continued to look at a blight spot on the wall. "I have given you the wrong impression, then. My life has never been pure – in fact, it is far from so. I am a murderer from birth, and nothing will ever change that."

"Anyone can change, even a monster." He said. "Look at me; I was created into a fighter – or as I termed myself, a regenerative sponge that can use a sword – and I'm not human. But I am now one. Anyone can change, given that you at least tried."

"That is an unexpectedly idealistic talk from you." She said, turning to look at him, lowering her legs and arms. She shifted slightly, so that she could take a full look at him. "But you were born a human. You are different from me."

"How are we different, when you bleed the same, have feelings, emotions and all other things that humans are capable?" He shot back, feeling uneasiness rising in the pit of his stomach. Something about her demeanor, her words, her gaze; it's all _wrong_. Out of place.

"Do I have all of that?" She questioned idly as she looked down at her hands, still shaking from the nightmare. She smiled at him. "I don't, Kanda-san. Even if it looks grossly like I'm a human, I'm not one. We're the same, but we're also different. I don't belong in this world. Neither is _she_."

"What do you mean? You're not making sense."

The smile turned grim, but she spoke no further.

After staring at her for like eternity, he realized he'd get out nothing more. But he should be grateful; she had told him much more than she'd otherwise have, and that was saying something. At least she had opened up, even if it was brief, and he could see in her face that sharing some of it relieved her burden, no matter how trivial it helped.

So he closed his eyes and nodded, slowly getting up and turned for the door, only for something to tug at his sleeve. He turned to see that she wasn't really looking at him, but her fingers managed to catch his shirt. He questioned her with his gaze alone, and her face turned bright red almost comically.

"Could you… at least stay until I fall asleep…?" She asked weakly, letting go of his shirt and dropped her hand down to her lap. "I'm – I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked… just –"

"I can." He cut her off, hiding his face in the shadow of the room. He could feel his cheeks heated up. "Until you manage to sleep."

"I – just… this is just a request." She muttered, digging her nails in the sheet so hard her fists turned white. "Do not… don't think anything more of it."

"What do you think I am? A teenager with uncontrollable emotions?" He said with a scoff as he dropped back down on the chair, crossing his legs as he went, his eyes scanning hers for… something. "I'm doing this as a favor, no more, no less. End of story."

"Right…" She murmured and pulled the cover over herself before she slit down until her head hit the pillow. Before she settled herself into sleep, she said directly to him in a restrained voice. "Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Somehow, he felt a dull ache deep in his chest.

* * *

 ** _There! For all ye shippers! :D_**

 ** _Well, for those who want blood and gore, don't worry. In two chapters there will be one. I'm laying some groundworks before cranking up the craziness of this story!_**

 ** _Right, hope you enjoy, and Tata! See you later :D_**


	14. Chapter 14

**_Hola, folks! At the usual time, Here I Am! With this filler chapter, where you learn more about certain things concerning Rei's past! :D_**

 ** _Review;_**

 ** _taran taran:_** _Next Plis_

 ** _A:_** _Well this is short XD But here you are, the next one! Hope you enjoy it!_

 ** _Alright, without further talks from me, please enjoy the show! And Reviews are much appreciated XD_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter Fourteenth: A Fair Deal_**

She was actively avoiding him.

He was _certain_ about it.

He knew she had been sent on missions more often than she should have, considering all her mental problems he had witnessed so far. Why Komui even allowed it was beyond him. Aside from Lavi and the man Aiden, there seemed to be no other who caught wind of her deterioration.

And he was worried.

Ever since that last nightmare that woke him up, she barely slept anymore, instead going somewhere he didn't know and just waited out until it's her "wake up time", then came back for work. Sleep was becoming something of a legend for her, and he could literally feel that strange air of dread hanging around her whole body.

She surprisingly had her sanity and her wits intact. She worked like she would when she was fully rested, and fought like a devil himself was backing her – in training, she _obliterated_ that guy Galahad, from what he'd heard – and she was more ferocious now than ever.

Kanda knew, however, that she was at the edge of a cliff, and just a simple push can topple her over and she will plunge to her death.

And, to make it worse for him, she _always_ walked towards a different direction every single _fucking time_ he saw her, for one reason or another.

Just. Fucking. Perfect.

"Yuu," Lavi's voice jerked him out form his thought and he looked up with his murderous gaze. He didn't faze; instead he seemed to look a bit amused as he pointed his fork – with a piece of meat speared at the tip still, no less – at his soba tray. "You're going to break not just the tray, but also the table like that."

His eyes followed the direction Lavi pointed at, and saw that his chopsticks had lodged themselves past the noodles and into the tray. The utensils themselves had already half-broken, too, at this point in time. He exhaled sharply as he relaxed his arm, slowly pulling the chopsticks out and laid it on the tray.

"You're worried."

"I am not." He quickly shot back, only to be surprised by Lavi's intense gaze.

"Kanda," He said, and the usage of his surname rather than his name made him jumped in surprise. He looked up only to see the rare seriousness in Lavi's gaze, something he had not seen in a long time. He gulped, unintentionally so, as he lowered both arms until they rested on the table. Lavi said nothing more, and Kanda soon realized that he was waiting for _him_.

With a heavy sighed, he looked downward and nodded. "Yes… I'm worried. She rarely sleeps anymore, and to be frank, the vibe I'm getting off of her… hell, it's wrong. Everything about it is _unholy_."

"For you, of all people, to use the word _unholy_ ," Lavi said, but his face bore no trace of amusement as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I probably shouldn't tell you this but… you've heard the stories about the Owl's first attack that injured her… right?"

He had. But he didn't understand what Lavi's going with it. "I have. And what about it? Is there something else behind the bush?"

"More than just _something else_ , actually." He said grimly, looking to the sides to make sure he was not eavesdropped. "During our mission in Holstebro, Rei divulged some minor information with me –"

"She _what –_ "

"And she said that before the Owl emerges, she was subjected to physical and mental tortures." Lavi stated grimly without paused, and that last statement had effectively shut him the fuck up. He frowned as Lavi continued. "She didn't say much, but she gave me something – names, dates… so I continue to dig up more by myself."

This was not going anywhere good, Kanda could tell that much.

"To my surprise," Lavi continued casually. He either didn't detect Kanda's… well, _discomfort_ , or he just ignored it. "It turns out that the villagers didn't tell me everything they know. She was kidnapped when she was fourteen – right before the Owl happened, mind you – because she _killed_ someone."

"Who?" He asked, his voice hoarse. She had told him this. But who? Who –

"I don't know." At this, Lavi looked uncomfortable. He twisted in his seat and tried to accommodate himself better, to no avail. "From the guy she gave me the name, he told me the man she killed was his brother, and him and his goons kidnapped her in hope to… retaliate."

"She broke out?" He asked stupidly. Of course she had, one way or another, which brought up another question. "Scratch that; _how_ did she break out?"

"That man didn't give me much detail." Lavi said, spearing another piece of steak and threw it into his mouth. After it went down, he muttered. "Only that the scene was pretty fucked up. I dug around some more and found reports of the scene investigation."

A pause.

"Whatever trashed their place _can't be human_."

His words sunk in slowly, and Kanda's eye grew wider and wider with each passing seconds. He promptly snapped his eyes shut and shook his head. Lavi merely observed as he inhaled deeply, and then exhaled. He looked up at the one-eyed man before him and muttered. "Then what did?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. I asked Rei, I did, but she refused to talk about it anymore. However, if my assumption is correct, this might be the start of everything – of the Owl incident, and of her… _deterioration_."

Kanda eyed Lavi pointedly. "So you know about that."

"Just one glance at her right now, and a trained eye would be able to tell." He replied plainly. When no one was looking, Lavi grabbed Kanda's collar and pulled him close, eyes hard as he muttered the next few words. "Yuu, there's something fishy about this. Be careful around her, okay?"

"She's no danger to any of us." Kanda declared, slapping Lavi's hand off.

"She said she is." Lavi said. "Between your words and hers, I trust _hers_ more. It's not like I don't want to help her, but as things stand, there are too many unknowns, too many things hidden from our eyes. Just be careful – who knows what might happen."

He opened his mouth almost instantly in an attempt to retort that comment, but as he let his mind wrapped itself around it, the more Lavi's words ringed with truth. He closed them and reeled back, considering the words the man before him said thoroughly. It's true, there are too many unknowns, and she was being elusive about _everything_ she said.

But that vulnerability she showed that night, the fear in her voice and eyes and the way she forced her fears down – to be frank, it made his heart ache. He didn't want to see it again, but he was… reluctant to get close, and she to tell him even a spec of truth. He guessed she decided to tell Lavi because he was impartial, which still didn't make much sense.

He shook his head – thinking about it now would yield him _nothing_ , so there really is no point to do so.

"Yuu." Lavi called his name again as he got up with his now empty plate, his one green eye unreadable.

"…What…?"

"Despite what I tell you earlier… just… make sure Rei doesn't do anything crazy or kill herself, yeah?"

"You hypocrite." He murmured with a shake of his head, but agreeing to Lavi's request regardless a moment later. "I'll try."

* * *

"Why are you guys so _jittery?_ "

Alexi asked as soon as he reached the group of nurses and surgeons standing inside the OR room, preparing for a major orthopedic surgery. He is their in-house neurosurgeon, so he was to take care of the spinal cords and some such while Rei spearheaded the whole thing – which is a common practice in the Order nowadays – and this team was the best one there is in the Order. He just did _not_ understand why they seemed so off.

"Ah, Alexi." The anesthesiologist, Bradford, greeted with an inclination of his head as he rubbed at his beard thoughtfully, eyes glued to the piece of paper with zigzag lines before him. The ECG lines – which indicated the patient's heartbeats, among other things – were printed in a checkered paper. Once he stood beside him, the gray-shirt man said. "Everybody's on edge, that's all."

"Why, though?" He asked with a smile. "It's not like this is high-risk –"

"It's class _four_ , in case you haven't seen the files yet." Bradford cut him off with a frown and gave him the patient's file. Class Four means that the patient has a severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life. Ah, so now he clearly understood the reason as to _why everyone was so on edge_.

"Why did she decide to operate then?"

"Pope's order." Bradford said curtly. "No way can you skirt around that."

"No you don't." He agreed and unfolded his arms, clapping his hands and walked towards the door. Spotting an elderly man on the bed with two nurses by his side, he whistled. "That's the patient, right? Take him in, we're prepping for surgery."

Everyone scuttled to where they should be as the patient, already on oxygen cannula as it stood, came in. The nurses lifted him to the operating table while he and the other two assistances looked through the files hastily, cleaning up some minors details and made sure everything was in place. Rei was, to put it lightly, a _perfectionist._ She hates _everything_ that wasn't in the right Order, so they had to make sure it did.

"Hello there, mister…" Alexi trailed off, hand busy ruffling at the papers. There were so many, and he just couldn't find the name –

"Giovanni," The man responded in thick Italian accent. "Giovanni Acconcio."

"Alright, Mister Acconcio," He said, flipping to the blank page and started scribing the plan of surgery down. He raised his brow as he asked, "What kind of underlying diseases are you having these days?"

"Ischemic Heart Disease." He responded. "Akihiro had performed coronary arteries catheterization twice already, if that is what you're looking for."

"She attends to you personally?" He asked absently and slapped himself inside his mind – of course she did, why else would she receive this order from the fucking Pope?

"Ah, yes… I am an old friend of the Pope, and he recommended this person, so she is my doctor." The old man said, lifting his arm absently as the nurses put the blood pressure cuff around it. "And where is she, by the by?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea, honestly. She mostly showed up after patients are already under."

"I see – oh, there you are."

His eyes followed the old man to the young doctor who walked in while tying her surgical mask over her face. She gave the team brief, polite greetings before standing beside him, inclining her head slightly as a way to acknowledge his presence. He nodded back and handed her the chart.

"I wished we'd be able to meet under more… relaxing circumstances, Giovanni-san." She stated with a smile, hidden under her mask. Without flipping the chart, she continued. "How are you?"

"There's no dyspnea or breathlessness whatsoever for the past week." He said with a grin. "Your treatment has been very effective."

"Thank you." She said with a salutation. Then she turned her eyes towards the chart, flipping it to the anesthetic page, and then to the vital sign pages, and back again. She then did a brief physical examination. "Hmm, your fluid input-output seems a little off, sir. And there's some crepitation – voices, if you will – in your lungs. I'm not really comfortable operating with that in mind. Let me consult with the team for a bit, and I'll get back to you, yes?"

"Of course, child." He laughed merrily.

He felt a tug on his sleeve, and he followed without question. She dragged the internal medicine doctor with her, and Bradford, too. Once they were out of the OR and in the nearby planning room, she literally _slammed_ the chart on the table, making everyone present jumped.

With a weary sigh, she said slowly and clearly. "Who looks after him?"

"Um… me, Ma'am." The internal medicine specialist said, raising his hand hesitantly. He nervously scratched his bald head. "I can explain –"

"I've look through the orders. Where's the necessary medicine? Where's even the _progress note?_ Do _you_ know how to _medicine_ … _sir?_ " She reprimanded, her eyes hard as steel as she stared the man down. Unfolding the glasses with one hand and put it on, she continued, her voice grew colder and colder by the second. "Why did the orders stopped two days before surgery? Is it because those two days were _weekends?_ Who were on shifts those days?"

"Um… me, Ma'am," The man stammered. "I, ah –"

"Did you come to round?"

"I did –"

"I'll not repeat myself." She gritted out slowly. " _Did. You. Come. To. Round?"_

"I had the nurses do it!" He half-shouted. "They did and said –"

"How would the nurses know what the lookout for if you don't tell them? And whose responsibility is his health fall to?" She cut him off, anger clear in her voice. Alexi got chills running up his back.

Doctors, nurses, physical therapists, etcetera – they are all parts of the team, and each has their own responsibility. Nurses might be able to cover some of the doctor's works, sure, but they couldn't have known all, much like how a physician can't do some the nurses do.

So this is ultimately the doctor's fault. Poor sod.

"But I check with their reports! It's all –"

She cut his excuses off with a sharp look and a talk through her gritted teeth – he could literally _hear_ the grindings. "I will not tolerate anything that will jeopardize _our_ patients' safety. I give you three days to think about what you should and should not do. If you're not satisfied with the way I work, points me where I did it wrong. If you have reasons to support your claim, then I will change. If you do not, I expect you to change. Am I clear?"

The doctor opened his mouth, closed them, and repeated a few more times before his shoulders slumped. He bowed low and said in a terrified voice. "Yes Ma'am! I'm sorry; I'll think it over and start again, Ma'am!"

She sighed. "Apology accepted. Can he handle the operation, Bradford-san?"

"He can, and my team will be prepared if something happens." He said quite confidently. His confidence was not baseless, however, as he was known to be a very thorough and strict man. He folded his arm as he continued. "If you take it a little slower than you usually would, then I think he can handle the stress just as well as any class threes. I'll personally monitor this case."

"That'd be for the best." She nodded. "And you, Alexi-san?"

"Truth be told, I've not reviewed the case yet –"

She snorted. "I figured as much. I heard you had it rough last night."

He took a glance at Bradford, who also sighed in relief. Well, yeah, before the case today he was on call, and guess what – multiple injuries came in because a fucking idiot blew up sets of oil containers because he lit a cigarette. Multiple traumas weren't fun, much less so when said trauma was involved with burns and ingrained metallic shards.

"Thanks to you saying _I hope you had my luck_ , Chief." He muttered back. Man, the woman before him sure had such a dick luck.

She laughed merrily. "That was unintentional. Anyway, let's review the case together. Get the team in – I want this to be thorough."

* * *

Cross laughed so hard when he walked into the lounge one day to find Rei on the couch, stretched across the furniture, with _four_ bottles of red wines on the glass table next to it.

"Are doctors allowed to get drunk?" He mused as he walked to her, a glass and _Romane Conte_ in hand.

She peered up at him, her face red with alcohol and her eyes half-closed. Her words were a bit slurred, but he could still make it out, somehow. "General Cross. Fancy meeting you here."

"Fancy meeting _you_ here," He corrected, sitting down on the sofa by her head and placed his liquor down. She groaned slightly at the sound, and he chuckled to himself. "This is my place. I don't know you drink."

She held up three fingers. "I usually go with three glasses… this is a bit much for me."

"Figures." He muttered and popped the cork. "So… what makes you drink?"

"Stress." She replied, her brows knitted together as she shut her eyes. Putting an arm over her eyes to cut out the light, she murmured. "The patient is a Cardinal, and the one who put in the request was the Pope himself. Failure was not an option. He lived, but…"

"When did you start the operation?"

"Uh… Two days ago… I think?"

"That explains all…" He paused, lost for words, and opted for hand motions that gesture to her overall state and the environments. "…of _this_."

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious, General." She muttered, and as if spatting the last words gave her the worst headache of her life, she groaned and shifted so that she would face the back of the couch. "Ow, my head."

"How long did it take you to down these four bottles?" He asked, amused at the usually cool, calm and collected woman's state. This was equivalent to seeing General Nine flirting with someone.

Well, not that he ever did. It was a figure of speech.

She squeezed her eyes tighter before answering with what he would describe as a hybrid between a spat and a moan. "Two hours. My god everything's _spinning_. Like I'm rolling off a _hill_."

"I can't call you a soft neck for being able to hold your own this long against these, kid." He muttered and took a sip. Letting out a sigh of contentment, he glanced at the clock. "Damn, it's already four in the morning. You should get back to your room and rest."

"Four…?" She repeated, mild terror edging into her voice. And then she bolted upright before putting her head in both her hands to stifle a hit of vertigo he imagined must be _pleasant_. He had a lot of hangovers before. He assumed it would be bad because she cussed in _Russian_ at that. "Oh my god I've got work at six. What have I done? Oh my god…"

"Just call a day off. I'm sure they'll understand."

She groaned. "You're right. I still have to check in on the Cardinal, though. He's the one real VIP in my care at the moment."

" _At the moment?_ You mean there's _more_ you gotta look after?"

She turned to him and smiled, her eyes barely opened at the moment. Rei shifted slightly to accommodate herself better to the stiff, black couch of the lounge. "I'm in charge of exorcists' health, both physical and mental. If one or more of them lands themselves in a bad spot, I'll have the responsibility to personally look after their treatments and the like."

He noticed something strange. "You said _they_ , not _us_."

"Well," She started, scratching her cheek sheepishly. "You see, if I'm injured I can't take care of myself. That's someone else's job. Or would you rather I put the knife on my own skin to save my life? –" She laughed "– no, thank you."

"That's quite an order from Komui, kid." He murmured, putting his drinking spree on a short pause. His one visible eye looked at hers, tired but still full of love and life. "…You do enjoy it, don't you?"

"Saving lives is the best part of being a doctor, General." She said. "Even if you count in all the obstacles and tiring politics medicine has to offer, the science and art itself is a marvelous thing to be a part of."

He smiled at the contentment in her voice. Everything she said and showed through her expressions were no lies – she enjoyed her work because she can do something to save others. Scientists ravel in the thrills of finding new things nature has to offer, but doctors have their passions in the well-being of the ones they cared, and she has the most gentle of heart he had ever seen.

"Which reminds me," She snapped him out of his contemplation with a rather amused tone as she scanned him from head to toe. "You know… I've been meaning to ask about your Innocences, if you don't mind."

His smile turned into a grin. "Curious?"

"Indeed." She smiled.

"If you mean this one –" He said, drawing his gun out of the holster and put it on the table. "– then I'd be disappointed."

Her smile never faltered as her eyes trained on his hand. "Of course not. But I must ask – how did you know that I know about the Grave of Maria?"

"You use secrets as currency, and I've been digging around about you, too. As it is, you seemed to have put quite a bounty on the information regarding a certain man who I had helped in the past –"

"Neah D Campbell." She finished, grinning knowingly. He tipped the invisible hat on his head for her. "But I don't know him as much as I'd like."

"Why do you want to?"

"To save Allen, of course."

He paused at that and frowned. Something was off about it, and he knew what was fishy. But the genuity in her voice was somehow enough for him to set aside his doubt – even though temporarily – to answer her question. But first, he needed to make sure. "And what of Neah?"

"I want to talk." She replied, pushing herself up and leant back on the couch, relaxing fully into it. "But if that fails, and his death would benefit all of us more than his survival, then my blades are ready."

"You do realize that I'm his accomplice, right?"

"Yes, but you're different." She said. "You care. For Allen – the _former_ Allen, the one that was lost during the memory transition."

He paused at that, an alarm having been set off in his mind. How did she know about that? His eye quickly scanned hers, and he found _nothing_. She's the better poker player here, and the blankness in her expression, with no sighs he could use to discern her true intention, truly is terrifying. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed them as no words came out.

Her smile was a reserved one. Reserved, misleading. A mystery. And much to his dismay, he both loves and hates _mysteries_. In this case, he despises its existence, because that meant she held the upper hand in this negotiation. As if reading his mind, she spoke calmly. "Information is power, General. You know that. The Earl knows that. The Order ignores that, but it knows the very significance of information. I'm the best information broker there is."

"Best broker?" He questioned and paused. Wait –

"That's right." She replied to his silent inquiry, a disturbing smile gracing her feature. "I'm the broker employed into the service of House of Hanover, to the court of Queen Victoria herself."

"That explains all the rumors I heard about someone in the Order who has more power than the Pope himself." He mused, looking at her in the eyes – dark, unreadable, _powerful_. "But I couldn't even begin to imagine that a girl so young such as you would be the one said to _pull all the strings_."

She laughed merrily. "Oh, please, I don't pull _all the strings_ , General. Only enough to influence certain decisions. The reason I even start my own little information network in the first place was to track down and keep tab on the Owl, and nothing more. These… employments, these perks, they merely are the side benefits of it all."

"That's what I've been meaning to ask you for a time, now." He began, looking around to make certain they weren't eavesdropped. Just in case, he silently cast the sorcery of old, mumbling their activation words under his breath as he drew circles in the air. She waited patiently, and once he finished, Cross asked with a hushed voice. "What's your history with the Owl?"

Her body suddenly stiffened at the question, and her eyes turned fierce and outright murderous. The sudden changed in demeanor lasted but for a few seconds before she calmed down and returned to her usual self.

After a long pause, she repeated his question. "You wish to know about my history with the Owl?"

"If I'm going to divulge information of Neah D Campbell to you, I've got to at least know some of your angles. You're not the only one who plays with secrets and information for a living, kid." He said, crossing his arms. He had half expecting her to lash out and refuse his offer outright, but to his surprise, she laughed at him. "What?"

"Hahaha! No, it's nothing! I'm just glad that you are someone who know how to play trader, is all." She said happily and crossed her legs, all the drunkenness gone as if she had never even touched a drop before their conversation, which surprised him quite so. "So… in trade of that?"

"Details on everything I know about Neah." He said. "And after that, if you agree, we can form an alliance, perhaps? Because my goal is to win this damn thing, and on the side… if saving Allen is possible, then… yeah. Why not?"

"Then we have a deal." She said, extending her hand to him and smiled. "We will exchange our knowledge another time."

"Sounds good to me." He took it and shook it vigorously.

"Well, then," She said, fetching her empty glass and extended it his way, her eyes looking straight at the bottle. "In celebration of our little agreement?"

"Sure, why not." He shrugged and filled her glass with his favorite beverage and grinned deviously. "Don't ever lose your touch. I like you more like this."

She grinned back. "I never will, General. I never will."

* * *

It was a few nights later that he found her again, this time in her little spot in the garden, where she fell asleep on his shoulder.

She turned into his direction the moment he entered, and he silently cursed and applauded her keen sense as he hung out by the doorway. Her gaze didn't waver as she assessed him. Because he came here without even a good reason to be up at this hour, it would at least took her a few minutes to accept the fact that he'd give her no direct answer before she did something else.

She said nothing and returned her eyes to the horizon, with moonlight, milky white and brilliant, reflecting on the surface of the calm sea.

"Why are you still up?" He asked, more a question to himself than to her. He remained by the entrance, not dare taking a step in. There was… something, like a globe, surrounding her whole body. And just the thought of disrupting the calm sent a shiver down his whole body.

"Why are you?" She asked without looking at him, leaning her head against the tree, her tensed shoulders slumped down as if in defeat. Without his reply, she continued. "It's already late."

"It is." He murmured and straightened himself up. "May I?"

"Certainly." Rei replied, her tender fingers rolling the tiny silver locket he never noticed she had absently. Kanda sat a few inches away from her, resting his back against the wooden bench as softly as he could. Once he settled, he could feel her eyes on him. "Kanda-san…"

"…What?"

She remained silence, only looking at him. After a while, a smile crossed her face as she returned her attention to the moon. "…It's nothing."

He crossed his arms and sighed. "You're keeping too much to yourself. Spitting something out might prove good for your mental health."

"Then why don't you?" She shot back almost immediately, her voice calm – too calm. Too cold. "With the whole Alma Karma mess –"

"You don't talk about _that!_ " He burst out; anger suddenly rose up in his chest and spreading like wild fire all over him. His vision was filled with nothing but red, and he was seething uncontrollably. She seemed unfazed by it, which caused his already untamable rage to spike up even higher. "You know _nothing_ about any of that! You don't know _me_!"

"Nor you me." She stated calmly, her eyes bored into his as she remained seated, rooted to the spot, unyielding. Then he realized that she must have planned for this. He blinked and held his tongue. Seeing that, she smiled and turned her gaze to the sky above. "We are different, yet the same. You don't know me, I don't know you. You don't know what I've been through, and nor I you. Let's leave it at that, shall we?"

He couldn't find the way to convince her otherwise, so he elected to shut up.

The air was heavy, choking him from every angle, and he couldn't bear it. But just as he was about to get up and leave, something tugged at his insides, stopping him. He couldn't bring himself to leave, nor take his eyes from her. It was like something was dragging his eyes back to her form, feminine yet sturdy like a well-crafted marble statue.

Suddenly, without warning, she said; "A broker."

"What?"

"I'm an information broker." She said, sighing and closing her eyes as she leant her head back against the seat. "As a broker, it is a requirement that you be able to make rational decisions while disregarding all the bounds of moralities and laws. No one who stays in this business longer than a month could keep his or her hands clean… I included."

"Why are you telling me this?" He said what he thought without holding back, and he blinked in surprise at his own questions. But… she seemed relieved, and if he dared say, _improved_ , even if it was barely noticeable. He gulped and dared add a bit more as she didn't reply. "Why are you telling me all of this? You were pretty keen on keeping it in the low before –"

"I don't know." She said at last, her gaze fixated on the ground, her hands and fingers intertwined together. A faint smile crossed her lips as she let out a humorless laughter. "I don't know, really. Believe me. Sometimes it felt like I just… needed to share this with someone _else_."

He snorted but remained silent otherwise.

Her smile turned somewhat ironic-like as she looked straight at him. "I'm… rather surprised. No more question for me, Kanda-san?"

"I figured you wouldn't spill anything more anyway." He said casually with a carefree shrug, arms crossed tight over his chest as his dark eyes met hers, the warmth in her chocolate brown orbs morphed into something that made his gut twisted. He inhaled deeply once to rid his mind of the dark thoughts and continued. "But if you want someone to listen to your stories… I'll be here."

She blinked in surprise at his offer. In truth, he too was taken aback, but at this point, when he realized that he had an uncertain feeling for her, he no longer give a fuck about it. She opened her mouth, her facial expression that of a woman who was about to retaliate with sarcasm, but she clamped it shut and instead smile to herself.

Her smile was that of contentment, not born of some bad joke.

"Thank you. Truly, I am grateful." She said, at last, without looking at him.

They fell into a comfortable silence, where her eyes remained glue to the ground before them; the ghost of smile lingered on her face still.

And when he thought that was the end of it, she fidgeted uncomfortably and scooted a little closer to him, her eyes still glued to a single speck of dust on the ground. He looked at her strangely, an eyebrow arching up on its own as he studied her. She is a genius, there's no doubt about that, but sometimes (well, _most_ of the times, to be honest) she could be a literal blockhead and couldn't tell herself what she really feels sometimes.

She opened her mouth and closed them repeatedly, her eyes stopped between the ground and his face. Finally, after seemingly mustering enough courage to do something, she said; "Kanda-san… if it's fine… can I –"

It's such a silly question he almost laughed. Without waiting for her to finish, he patted his shoulder. "Go ahead. I don't mind."

She blinked and blushed furiously before pursing her lips into a thin, straight line. Hesitantly, she lowered her head until it met his shoulder. She shifted to find herself a more comfortable position and sighed. "Thank you."

 _It's fine. Even if she had a thousand of reasons to remain just friends, this is all I could ever ask for._

 _Just this is enough_.

* * *

"My lord,"

Her voice jerked him out of his thoughts; his gloved hands stopped moving as his eyes, through the round glasses, glanced up at the owner of the voice. The woman before him, now wearing dark skin, golden eyes and stigmata of their family proudly, bowed at his attention. He smiled and put down… whatever it was he was knitting. "What is it, Lulu Bell? Something to report?"

"The preparations are ready." She said, at last, her voice as calm as ever. "We have completed the first three "Successful Model" out of the flesh and blood of the willinngs."

"Perfect. I've been waiting for so long." He said, leaning back against his rocking chair and grinned to himself. "And combat-wise?

"They are ready, sir. I'll sent one during one of their deployments to evaluate her capabilities, as ordered.."

"Well done!" He laughed merrily. "Ah, and what should we named these things?"

"I heard the Order called the original the "Owl", sir." She said with a bow. "If I may, I'd suggested calling them "Artificial Owls", if you are content."

"Of course!" He nodded and got up of the rocking chair, tapping his cane lightly on the ground and smiled to himself as the skin of the "Earl" enveloped his body, his golden eyes glinting deviously before they were concealed by the ever-happy skin he made out of boredom. He grinned underneath as he walked past Lulu Bell, who silently followed him, out of his room and to the wider world.

"Then let the party begins!"

* * *

 _ **There! Some fanservice for you! :D And Premonition of something terrible looming in the dark ;) Guess what is going to happen! XD**_

 _ **Also I'll take 3 weeks break here, I think, because National Exam comin' up and I don't wanna screw myself over ;) Also a trip aboard after, so... Yeah... XD**_

 _ **Stay tuned! R and R as you like! And see you later! :D**_


	15. Chapter 15

**_Howdie, folks! Sorry for the disappearance, just that three exams in a row is hard af XD_**

 ** _Anywho, here's answer to your review;_**

 ** _Procrastinatingismyforte_**

-right now I kinda just have to ask, purely because of the repeated mention of owls and the described appearance is reminding me of a certain character from tokyo ghoul, I was wondering if this is kinda a slight crossover? if not, and if it is, nonetheless, I am in absolute adoration and admiration of this story and your writing skills, this story has had me hooked since chapter one and onwards. every chapter has me either grinning and squealing like a loon, scowling and spitting insults at certain characters (ehem millennium earl ehem) and holding back tears. I beg of you take all the time you need but hypocritically of myself, I must beg that you update soon as well.

- ** _Well, thanks for your kind review, first of all. I'm so flattered :D Also, yes, you are quite on point. Let's just say this is a very crossever ish and the reason it's not there is because it's mainly DGM. Tokyo Ghoul is... there... a lot is there actually, but there's no Kaneki or anything! XD Well, you'll have to wait and see!_**

 ** _Alright, and without further hold-ups, here's one of the major turning points!_**

 ** _Also hooray, a few more chaps till the Alma Arc ;D_**

 ** _Read and Review as you see fit!_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter Fifteen: Black Rain_**

It's raining in fucking February.

God damn it.

He looked out of the train's window and leant against the cold glass as his eyes scanned the terrain, where everything's green and grey due to the fucking rain that kept pounding at the glass itself. Lavi and Rei were more or less closely engaged in a rather heated conversation about psychology in general while Allen kept laughing at them. He didn't pay any of these three idiots (well, maybe two since he doesn't consider Rei to be a stupid person…) much mind. Well… until now.

"Have you ever tried any drugs, Lavi?" She asked casually, her eyes not leaving the tattered notebook in her hand. She pushed the glasses up her nose and oh-so- _sensually_ crossed her legs. Kanda gulped and shifted slightly.

"Hell yeah." He said with a grin. "Being a Bookman doesn't mean you don't do stupid shits. But it was fun… while it lasted and before the whole mess that it caused catch up to ya."

She laughed merrily. "Of course! Haha! Well, do you mind elaborating on the details? It's not often that someone with the same intelligence as _me_ – mind, I'm not being over-confident here, but that is the truth – gets high and leaves the mess alive with their brains intact."

"Doing this for research now, are we?" Lavi said and leant forward, rubbing his chin in the process. Allen placed his elbows on his thighs and rested his head on a hand while he was at it, his focus trained onto the Bookman-in-training as the eye patched recalled the memory.

"Not really," She said, closing the notebook with one hand and placed it under her overcoat while the other hand took the glasses off gently. "It's more of a curiosity. But it might prove useful as a blackmail material."

"Then why the hell should I tell you anything?" Lavi asked, amused.

At this, a devious grin spread across her feature as she tapped Lavi's forehead with her finger. "Because you will. And I'm joking."

"Coming from the woman whose head scores the highest bounty in Europe… that ought to be _veeeery_ believable." Lavi said sarcastically, earning himself a glare from Kanda and a freaked-out look from Allen.

 _What fucking bounty?_

Rei simply chuckled and waved her hand dismissively. "Come now, Lavi! That was so over the top, I mean, I don't have a bounty on my head. Look at these two; they are freaking out!"

"Alright, fine! I'll answer that question!" Lavi laughed. "So I've had one snuff of cocaine somewhere in Australia, I think. So, as it turns out, I have the worst _metabolism_ ever. I got adverse effect just from the third snort –"

"– That's still a lot, you know –"

"– and I saw gramps as a literal panda swinging his paws in his attempts to _kill_ me! So I kinda panic and jumped off the roof then landed into the snow _in my undergarment!_ And I was fourteen at the time! _Four-fucking-teen!_ "

Kanda couldn't help but snort a laughter while Allen out right rolled in his seat and laughed like a hiccupping peacock. Rei held her laughter well, letting them out as soft chuckles as her lips curled into a smile. Soon the whole cabin was set alight with sounds of joy (he'd have hated it if she's not here…).

Before they could continue their senseless conversation, however, the train lurched into an unexpected stop, the sound of wheel screeching grating at his ears and the momentum of the boogey itself almost launched him off his seat – but, him being _him_ , that does not happen.

Rei stopped herself from losing balance by planting her feet firmly on the floor while Lavi pushed against the momentum using the seat beside the woman as a launch pad. Allen, slow as he always was, got sent face-first into the floor, moaning pathetically against the ground.

He quickly activated his sword and opened the window, looking up ahead where he couldn't see shit. Suddenly, he felt a strong tug on his shirt as a cry erupted from the only woman on the team, and not too soon something like a red lance rushed just an inch away from his nose, from the front of the car to the back, hitting something and sending another quake down the whole train. Yells and screams of panic soon rose in volume, and he could already hear the many footsteps scrambling in the back.

"What the fuck was that!?" He asked the air, nodding in thanks to Rei as he slammed the door open. Rei tugged at his sleeve to stop him while putting on the mask herself, both IXA and Narukami stood ready beside her.

"Wait a minute, Kanda-san." She said as she turned to Lavi, who had already stood up, his sole eye looking out the window. "Lavi –"

"We're at a disadvantage here." He surmised. "We're on a bridge and right below us – and by below I mean _way_ below – it a river. If whatever that thing is intends to send us down to our doom, it would be the end of us."

"The Owl, no doubt." She said. "There's only one thing in the world I know that can shoot blood-red lance like that one. But we're still safe, so I assume that it still has no idea where in the train we are."

Lavi placed his hammer on his shoulder in a resting position. "Thoughts?"

"I'll go as far front as possible. The head of the train should be way past the bridge by now, and I'll challenge it. You three evacuate the train quickly –"

"Are you intending to fight it alone!?" Kanda half-bellowed, looking at her with seething eyes as he slammed the door to the side, hard enough to knock the wall of another room off. "Fuck it, Rei, bring someone with you! We all know that any of us alone stood no chance against –"

Lavi was the one who stopped him by grabbing at his collar and pulled with enough force to make him turn around. "Yuu, I've seen her dealt with it before. We have to save the civilian, and even with Allen's eye, we still can't be sure if there are any Akumas involved! Trust her on this."

"I –"

"Please, Kanda-san." She said, half pleading through her voice and eyes as her lower face had been concealed. There was something in there. Guilt, Kanda quietly reckoned. There's also the sense of responsibility in her voice and her manner that he couldn't refuse. "Evacuate the civilians first. I can hold my own against the Owl long enough for you to save me."

She didn't wait for the answer as she jumped off the window and fell down –

– Only to pull herself back up with IXA's extended blade.

"Yuu," Lavi urged from afar, his hands busy waving at the passengers to get out of their seats and move to the back of the train. "The quicker we can finish this; the better is Rei-chan chance at being unscathed. Don't stand there like an idiot and help scout!"

And he did just that.

Allen went to the front of the train while he and Lavi moved to the back, and soon the boy contacted them through the golem, saying that he had detected some Akumas from the rear. Once they reached the backmost boogey, the train suddenly shifted as if a great weight had been quickly ripped off and he almost fell flat on his face. He heard roars that seemed distance, and quickly realized that it must've been the Owl.

Fuck, he wished that watchdog Link was here and not temporarily _ordered off somewhere_. He would be able to go with her if that was the case.

His instinct suddenly screamed at him, bellowing at the top of its silent lungs for him to draw his blade, which he did, his grip on the handle tighten as he swept the area right behind him. The black, hot oil of the Akuma spilled across his back as the blade slice it cleanly in two, but he didn't stop there, instead allowing the momentum to carry on and lodged Mugen in another's skull.

He sharply withdrew it and kicked the Akuma off, making it stumble and hit the other behind it. He glanced at Lavi, who was half fending off the Akuma, half escorting the civilian out before returning his attention to these motherfuckers that kept pouring in through the window like the rain outside. He worried, about Rei, with a part of his mind while the others focused themselves on what was before him. He couldn't lose focus now. He had to trust Rei and her ability to fight that Owl thing.

But he will need to do better. If he wanted to _do something_ he had to do better than he was doing, and that thought fueled his erratic movements. No longer in need of graces, he started _mowing_ down everything that got in his way and tore them into pieces. Lavi glanced at him strangely, but he paid the man no mind.

His golem buzzed, and he hit its button with the pommel of his sword roughly.

 _"_ _The front cars had been evacuated."_ Allen reported sternly, his breathing a bit labored. He heard the wheels of the boy's eye grinded against each other as he leant in to listen. _"There's too many Akumas here. I'll try to keep them busy. What about you?_

"Still evacuating!" Lavi hollered from the other side as his hammer crushed the skull of a Level Three, only for it to be lifted up by another. Kanda sliced through that one with ease, earning himself a thank you nod. Shoving a woman and a child towards the back of the car, Lavi continued. "There are a lot of these fucking bastards! And my bad leg is really aching right now!"

"Stop complaining, idiot!" He snapped. "Beansprout, can you raise Rei?"

 _"_ _I can't."_ The reply came almost too immediately, and he felt his heart skipped a beat as concern rose. He absently stabbed through one of the attackers' eye and threw whatever it was into another. _"It's not statics, either. I just can't – her golem must've been destroyed."_

He gritted his teeth, and a split-second decision was made.

"Lavi, after the evac is completed, go join Beansprout." He said sternly as he kicked another one right in the head. Lavi eyed him strangely as he continued to urge slow civilians out of the way. They were on a bridge, so that might be a bit hard.

"Why?"

Without pause, he replied.

"I'm going after Rei."

The silence reigned for but a few moments before Lavi broke it with a grunt of acknowledgement as he nodded his head sharply. He staggered slightly as his hand went for the right leg – and Kanda faintly recalled that Rei had said it would take a few more months to fully heal – and an Akuma took advantage of it by lunging at him.

Netherworld Insects were summoned in an instant, roaring and eating their way through the hordes, the Akumas subjected to their teeth exploded and turned into dust. The car shook and he almost lost his balance again, but he stopped himself with a hand to the wall.

"A few more, a few more!" Lavi said hurriedly, flame engulfing his hammer with such intensity that Kanda could feel the heat waves feet away from him. With a roar Lavi called out the fire serpent, sending it tumbling and crashing through the car, destroying Akumas while avoiding harm to civilian. The red-headed brought the last one out the door and started drawing Akumas away from the running people with a few colorful curses and yells.

"Fall back! Back!" Kanda roared, slowly walking backward as he waited for Lavi to run-wobbled his way to him. He turned to his golem, still live and connected to the Beansprout, and with a frown the boy couldn't possibly see, said, "Hey, we're heading your way. Meet us halfway, sprout!"

 _"_ _On it! Whoa!"_

The train shook again, more violently this time as it sent everything – even the Akumas – tumbling on their heads.

His vision blurred as his head hit against the wall hard, and he groaned in pain as he felt that throb at the back of his head. Shaking it to clear his line of sight, he looked around to see that some Akumas were sent out the window and down the river. That surely would delay them a bit; he thought dryly as he scrambled up and looked at Lavi, who seemed to have his bad leg caught under the dislodged chair.

He rushed there and destroyed the surrounding Akuma before kicking the seat not too gently off Lavi's leg. The limb seemed to be in a very bad shaped, and from hearing Lavi's low, pained growl, he can tell that the man wouldn't be able to fight like he usually did.

Suddenly, all Akumas swarmed up the side of the car, crawling above and below, plunging them into darkness. With a hiss, he grabbed Lavi by the collar and half dragged, half jogged him to the front of the train to meet up with Allen. He almost got his head shot off trying to cross the boogey, only to be saved by Allen who had caught up with them, his body covered in blood and grimes from both himself and the slain Akuma.

"What happened to Lavi?" He asked as he acted as a vanguard while Kanda protected the rear, Lavi occasionally causing havoc by summoning a lesser version of his flame serpent.

"The car got flipped and heavy shits fell onto my right leg. I think the steel used to keep the bone in place is bent." Lavi asserted, gripping his leg tightly as he tried to move it, only to place it back down, face twisted in pain.

At this rate, he couldn't go and help Rei out, since leaving these two behind against these many Akumas would results in their deaths.

But first, they needed to get out of this hellhole called a train and made their stand in the clearing. This place was a death trap for them.

"Let's get outta here first." He said, hauling Lavi over his shoulder while the other gripped Mugen tighter, if that was even possible.

Allen nodded in agreement and slashed his sword in a wide arc, cleaving the incoming Level Threes apart. The wheels of the boy's eyes clink as something new came into the play – and he knew this because of the chill that passed through his spine – and he almost got himself killed by taking one step to the right, where a bullet whizzed past his head.

He looked at Allen and, sensing that the boy had the same idea as he was, nodded before tapping Lavi's back slightly. The man groaned from his half upside-down position before gripping his hammer tightly –

– A few seconds later, they were propelled out of the car by the flame, and he rolled like fucking tumbleweed on the tracks before stopping a good distance away from the train.

"Two Level Four." Allen said as he got up as quickly as he could, dragging Lavi to where he was with Clown's belt, his whole body tense in anticipation of an attack. No sooner that his arrival to Kanda's position, two of those white pieces of shits landed on their front and back, effectively had them in a bind.

"Seems we will have to count on Rei-san coming to get up again," Allen said.

"No shit, you fuck." Kanda said. "Let's hurry."

He hated leaving Rei alone, but as things stand, he couldn't afford to go to her side. Not yet.

He hated his own weakness.

 _Please be safe, Rei._

* * *

When IXA pulled me up to the roof of the train, what I saw was disturbing, to put it in an understandable term.

I inhaled, count to four, then do the same with exhalation as my whole body tensed, each muscle anticipate some kind of blows that may or may not come my way. The beast, humanoid with stark white skin and a plane white mask with two hollows in place of its eyes stood before me, its three-fingered hands placed on the train to stabilize itself. Its upper half was oversized, its arm reaching past even its feet, which sported two stubbed fingers.

What struck me the most were the blade-arm, much like what the Owl had, mounting on its shoulders, spreading like wings.

 _Scheitern_ , feeling the same as the one Owl took control back in Kathmandu…. No, they are not the failed one. This product seemed more… _completed_. They looked like the Owl itself, but… stranger, less profaned.

"You are not the Owl." I stated my thoughts as I tightened my grip on both IXA and Narukami. The latter's blade, composed of four thin blades placing parallel to each other like a stack of paper, split apart slightly as lightning formed itself in between the gaps. I could feel that sting in my palm as its power slowly rose. With a low growl, I asked, "What are you?"

It tilted its head to the side, offering me no answer.

Then it lunged.

Had I been unprepared for even a second, I would've been dead. But I've been preparing and training myself to fight against the Owl countless times before this, so being ready is a given. I leant backward; one foot skidded to the back to keep my balance as its blade arm cut a strand of my hair. Without wasting a single movement, I raised Narukami in my right hand at its face. The blades, which had been stacking parallel to each other so far, split apart and formed a barrel-like structure with lightning cackles in the middle of it.

With a spark, the lightning was fired in bolts, the first one hitting the thing right in its eye. Its lower mask split apart, forming a mouth as it gave out an ear-splitting roar. I took two more steps back and, seeing its shoulders starting to bubble like boiling water, brought IXA before me in reverse grip.

No sooner than IXA's blade expanding into six-clover shield that the barrages of the all too familiar white-yellowish shards hit me, sending me scooting back at the sheer force of the attack. I stabbed IXA to the roof of the train, tucking my arm and legs behind its protections as the shards embedded themselves all around me, lodging deep inside the steel.

I gritted my teeth, my breath becoming a bit labored beneath my mask as I had to strain more of my muscles to withstand the attack. Had I possessed none of the _restrains_ put on my in order to keep myself sane, these kind of attack could have been ignored and this fake Owl – and the Akumas I saw was ignoring us and went for the civilian instead – would've been minced meat by now.

I shook my head, ridding myself of the thoughts and focused on what's before me. To fight this thing, my senses had to be sharp, enough to not get caught in any surprises because if I slipped, even once, then that's spell _death_ for me.

 _Sights are needed. Smell is as important. Taste unnecessary. Feeling on my skin not as crucial as the first two, but the rain's interfering with it, so that's more of a handicap than a help. Hearings are halted by the rain. Two out of five then – sights, and smells._

With training, I've come to be able to… _choose_ what kind of senses I want to focus on, and what to ignore. And right now, only two are necessary. Once the barrage stopped, I pulled IXA out by running towards it, sliding down as its other blade arm swiped side-to-side. As soon as I came to a stop, I planted my feet firmly to use the momentum of the slide to propel my body forward, the lightning cackles in my hand as I stabbed Narukami forward.

To my dismay, it was caught in between the beast's ripped muscle and ribcages without doing any damage. The lightning charges in the blade then discharged, only for it to backflow towards me. I pulled it out just in time to reduce the backfire from being and instant-death to a slight burn on my left arm as I instinctively lifted it up to guard my eyes. I jumped back, creating a distance.

But it was ahead of me, and before I knew it I was sent flying from one car of the train to the other, landing harshly onto the steel.

Air left my lungs too abruptly and the impact too much as I found myself gasping desperately for air. I choked and coughed, trying to keep my eyes open for incoming attacks. My grips on both weapons tightened and right after my lungs were once again filled with air, a shadow loomed above my head –

Its mouth found its mark on my left arm, which was barely holding IXA in it as it was. I gritted my teeth as I pushed it off the best I could with my feet while I plunged Narukami deep into its shoulder. Had I not been reverse-holding the black rapier, my arm would've snapped or worse. Its sharp teeth dug through my skin and bones, hot blood seeping from the wound as I struggled against the clasp of its jaws. I positioned IXA carefully, and with a shout, activated its shield mode, forcing the beast's jaw apart enough for me to pull my arm out.

A kick had no use here, so I gripped Narukami and commanded it to let loose the electrical charges running between the blades, which cause a part of the beast's shoulder to bubble and exploded. It roared and reared back, giving me enough time to scramble up to my feet. My left arm was numb, and my clutch weakened as IXA almost slipped off from my palm.

I hissed and instantly changed hands, using Narukami in my left and IXA in my right instead. I was not familiar with this, but as the situations went, I had to improvise.

The rain made my hands slippery, and the blood added to it made it almost impossible for me to hold Narukami in place. I narrowed my eyes and, taking advantage of the beast as it struggled to regenerate its blade-arm – which was blown off during that last bout – ripped off the edge of my overcoat and used it as a makeshift bandage. I then bound the strips of the fabric over my left hand, tight enough to hold the golden blade in place.

Well, isn't this nice.

"You're weaker than the Owl, that's for certain." I said, adjusting my stance as the artificial thing got up to its feet, mumbling incoherent things as its blade-arm sprung out of the stump in a blink of an eye. That was no surprise at all, considering that the Owl could do better. "But you maintain your sanity. How is that possible? What are you? Are you the Earl's subjects?"

It growled, but that's all the answer I was given.

"Oh well," I said mostly to myself. As it was, using IXA to defend myself from those shards put me at a disadvantage. I silently commanded the rapier to shape itself into the blood red Kanata, pulsing with profaned vitality. The blood from my arm stopped flowing the instant it activated and started floating into the air as if pulled by invisible threads before circling themselves around the blood blade. The blood then caught fire despite the pouring rain, and I looked up at the beast, now getting itself into a stance.

The wound on its left shoulder where Narukami had fired into was completely healed by the time we were ready to continue our bouts. I noticed the beast looking at the golden blade warily – as it should.

Before it could do anything else, I jumped off the train and headed for the thick woodland right beside the train track, hoping for it to follow me.

Which it did.

As soon as my shadows left the open and into the woods, I used my blood around IXA's blade to pulled myself up onto the tree and hopped from one sturdy branch to another. As I feared, the beast simply cut and shot through them as if kicking down sandcastles. I hissed and jumped over a few more tree branches before landing on my heels and spun around, slashing Narukami – with electrical charges roaring in between the paralleled paper-thin blade – through the air, creating an arc of golden thunder that cleaved everything and anything in its path.

The beast sacrificed its left arm and blade-arm to defend, not in the least slowing its pace as it closed the distance between us. As soon as I was in its attack range, it winded up its right blade in a wide, downward arc, something I was glad to take advantage off. I closed the gap even more as the blade hit the ground behind me and, putting all my weight into the attack, I stabbed IXA through its neck, commanding my blood to follow the sword into the wound.

After a second of holding my breath, the wound erupted like volcano, sending the beast howling in pain and me temporarily blinded by the flash of fire.

By listening to its footsteps, louder than the rain at this range, I deduced its location, positioning and sidestepping accordingly. Once my sight returned, I pointed Narukami up in its face, the blades now aligned into a gun's barrel. With a cackle, the lightning that took half a second to gather in the middle of the weapon erupted out in a blinding flash of light that hit its square in the face, melting away its mask and revealing what's inside –

A human, male, Caucasian. And he looked saner than I ever will be.

Rage swelled up uncontrollably in my chest as I swung Narukami one more time, lighting the beast-man up with electricity as I distanced myself.

"Why!?" I asked, anger exploding out through my every actions as I swung IXA down, only to be met by its blade, sturdy and stark white. The man behind the beast's mask looked at me with mockery in his one visible eye as the crack in the mask form into a wicked grin. " _Why!?_ What's the meaning of this!?"

"Power is what it is!" He returned with a howl as he put more weight behind his parry, forcing me literally into the ground. My feet sank slowly into the mud beneath me as my legs started to give out. The mask slowly crept up his face as he continued. "Sweet power is what I want! And the Earl gives me such! Even after so many sacrifices, I wouldn't have changed my mind for this kind of strength! Strength. Is. Absolute!"

I roared, furious as his reasoning and pushed his blade-arm away from me. In the same action, I pointed Narukami, not at his face, but at his foot, blowing it away and toppled him over.

"You chose to become a monster on your own _accord!?_ " I cried. "Why!? You are human, and you should be happy! Why chose this!?"

"Because killing things are fun, is what!" He hollered.

Something in me snapped.

 _That's the last straw. Mercy is no longer an option._

I closed my eyes and steeled myself. I had been half holding back all the fight because I wasn't sure whether the "host" of the Owl's power was forced into the body or not. But now that it's clear he – no, _it_ – cares very little about itself, then so should I. My boiling blood cooled down as another aspect of myself, buried underneath the mask of the "doctor" I've been keeping up all this time, resurfaced. I opened my eyes again, and whatever it saw must've been something terrible, for this artificial beast staggered back, not taking any advantage of me standing still and focusing inward rather than out.

"You had your choice. And you've made them." I said aloud, my eyes narrowed as flames of IXA and lightning of Narukami flared up, lighting my right hand on fire and my left in blinding light. "You chose to become a monster. You chose to not show mercy. I shall do the same."

In its moment of daze, I rushed forward and stabbed it right in the left eye with IXA, burning its tissues to crisps and forced it to scream. It tried to attack me, but I cut off its blade with the lightning-blessed golden sword, cleanly and swiftly. I then returned IXA to its rapier form, and leant forward until its face was but a few inches away from mine.

"You've picked the wrong side of the war." I said and activated _Mode Change._

The black blade struck out like coiled vipers lashing on their preys, the hard steel of IXA's blade turning into tentacle-like structure that flared up to every direction. The four tentacles that coiled and made IXA are now free, and it tore up the artificial beast's skull along with a part of its left arm and upper torso, ripping them apart without mercy.

It shrieked and fell back at the same moment I pulled the blade away, now returned to its normal form, my eyes hard on its eyes as the beast staggered up, the stumps bubbled and regenerated parts of the flesh that was torn asunder by my attack. I could _smell_ the sweet scent of fear emanating from it as I walked towards it, calmly, coolly.

"Don't think for a second I'll give you a quick death." I said, raising Narukami up. It crawled away from me, but I'll not let it escape.

It looked up at me, pleading. But I'll have none of that.

"You chose your path, as I've chose mine. We're enemies. No more, and no less. You chose pain for those who cross your path – as such, I'm returning the favor right back to you."

 _Something inside me snapped,_

 _And I, unknowingly, reached the point of no return._

* * *

They managed to survive the onslaught, somehow.

And Allen was glad none of them lost any vital organs or limbs.

He sat with his back against Lavi, panting his lungs out, while Kanda laid in a spread-eagle fashion, which was unbecoming of him, as the man tried to control his breathing to normal. He had the worst wounds of all of them here, with his back burnt, cut and shot to hell, his left arm broken, his right hand shattered. But he lived. Allen himself was no better, his left arm cracked quite badly – worse than when the jerk Kanda cut it, even – and his whole body was just wounded and sour. Lavi was lucky to not have anything more than a few bruises, as his weakened state made him a low-priority target. Besides, Lavi was protected by him and Kanda, so nothing could've gone wrong.

He looked up at the sky, with the heavy rain turned into light sizzle, cooling his heated body down. And when the adrenaline rush was gone, he soon realized that Rei remained unaided.

In the light of things, that was a very dangerous position for her to be; isolated, stranded, and against unknown. Well, she knew _something_ about this Owl thing, for sure, but its power remains unknown still. And he was worried. The way she talked to the Owl back at the order weeks ago suggested that the Owl was trying to kill her, and vice versa, but it seems more complicated than what both of them had let on.

Something's not right, and he felt a strange tug at his insides, saying that she wasn't to be fully trusted. There's darkness lingering around her, like some form of cloak that his left eye could detect. Much like with the Thirds, only… he could sense it only from time to time, without any real associations with anything she did, unlike the Thirds, whose activations triggered his eye.

He never told anyone about it, partly because he trusted her, and partly because it was only recently that he saw such thing. To be specific, he started noticing the changes right after her chat with the Owl. Something changed after that. For the worse, if he were to say so himself.

"Lavi," He called, still panting heavily. The man in question looked up, slightly battered, but none too shabby. "How're your leg?"

"S'fine. Just here hoping the metal ain't bent. You?"

"Okay, I supposed. Just a little out of breath, is all."

"That is because you're fucking weak, Sprout." Kanda called from where he laid, panting as heavily as he did. Still, that seemed to not deter his mouth in the very least.

"Stop being a jerk, you ass. And it's _Allen_ ," He corrected the older male with a click of his tongue as he looked around. No signs of her at all. But since that thing hadn't come to them yet, he supposed that mean she's holding her ground well… or maybe she's already downed.

He had to help her.

A lightning suddenly bolted up from the ground, golden in color with that vibe that made him think that it was Zeus' bolt itself. All of them exchanges glanced before Allen got to his feet, slightly shaking, but otherwise fine and in a better shape than the other two. He looked at Tim, who seemed jittery, even more so than what he already was and frowned. What was wrong with him?

"Lavi, can you contact her yet?" Allen asked, curling his fingers experimentally and grimaced slightly at the discomfort. Activating would cause pain, no doubt, but at the moment he didn't think he'd have the luxury of _not_ activating it.

"No, her golem seems to have been destroyed." Lavi said, a hand gripping his leg tightly. His brows knotted together as he mumbled something Allen could not hear through all these rains before looking up. "But I'd know that lightning anywhere I see it. That's Narukami's lightning bolt. She's alive, at least."

He sighed in relieve. "That's good to hear."

"She ain't out of the woods yet." Kanda called, trying to sit up but slumped back with a groan. "Fuck, all these wounds are keeping me down. I hate this – but I have to ask you to check in on her."

He wasn't really surprised by that request, to be frank. Everyone could tell that the Japanese man had already fallen head over heels for her; he was just too scared to admit it. Allen would too, to be honest, seeing how reserved she was and how everything seems so wrong about her. She had been keeping secrets – everyone does, actually – but somehow, it smells all wrong. Too wrong.

Something suddenly caught his attention; a white glimpse with two hollow red eyes, staring at them as it ran, its behemoth size body crashing through the woods and broke them down like twigs. It fell, came back up, and ran at them, not like predator chasing preys, but the opposite.

The white armor fell apart, and a naked man, with blood all over his body, came out of it, gasping as he stumbled across the ground and looked at him with pleading eyes.

Kanda got up from his position with gritted teeth and a drawn sword, and Lavi instantly tense as his eyes lingered on the white shell the man came out off. A word fell out of the redhead's mouth; "Owl…"

He couldn't deny the fact that the armor gave off the same vibe as the Owl he saw during the meeting in the Order, a long time ago. But it seemed different – not mad, and definitely weaker than the Owl from before. So he too drew his gigantic blade and pointed it at the man, silently ordering him to stop, an order the stranger thoroughly ignored.

"Help me!" He croaked, stumbling and fell onto the ground. He crawled, his head whipping back to where he came from, and pleaded. "Help me! She – she's going to kill me!"

Allen reared back; She? Only one "she" he could think of is Rei, but she's…

The man yanked at him by the collar and shouted into his face. "Please! She will kill me! Save m –"

A lightning bolt, as bright as the sun, cut through the air like serpent of light and blew off the man's right leg so violently it busted like bubble and splattered blood all over his face and white coat of Crown Clown.

He looked at the man in shock as he fell, writhing and howling in agony. Before he could do anything more, his eyes caught the figure of the gentle doctor he thought he knew walking out from the shades of the woods, eyes fierce as a beast and Narukami in her left hand cackled, lightning spewed out of the gaps between the stacks of blades like flame from a volcano.

Her voice was cold, her demeanor too calm.

"There you are. Let us continue where we left off, shall we?"

Her eyes were like predator that had cornered its prey, and –

"Rei…san…?"

* * *

 ** _There! Some fuckery for ye lots! How is it? Leave a review behind so I know! :D_**

 ** _Thank you for reading! And see you later! (hopefully my work life won't bite me in the ass and delay my posting... it probably will, but I'll do my best!)_**


	16. Chapter 16

**_Hi! Um, sorry for the much delay... life has been kinda hard and it will continues to be for 8 months total, sooooooooo yeah. That._**

 ** _And my constantly chocolate-craving stomach requires attention! D:_**

 ** _Anywhos, Please enjoy the story, as always. Read and Review at your leisure! :D_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter Sixteen: Unmasked_**

"Rei…san…?"

His voice sounded weak and uncertain as he called out her name, his hand instinctively tightened its grip on his sword and his legs took him back before he even realized what he was doing. He looked at the other two, looking as puzzled and as… _afraid_ as he was. He turned his face to Rei again, only to see that she was not paying any of them attention.

She had them in her sight, but she made no comments about their dishevel states or their injuries, instead focusing on this strange man before her. And the fact that such a loving, caring doctor could be so cold and detached made his skin crawled and his blood ran cold.

"As I was saying," She broke the silence. Even with such a heavy rain, her voice was clear despite the lack of effort in saying them. She said those words so casually, so coldly, that it was like continuing a casual conversation over breakfast. "I was asking you about the names. Who else? You can 't possibly be the only one."

"I-I don't know!" The man screamed, hands flew to his wounds and pressed on it. Blood poured out as heavy as the rain, but it was slowing, if Allen's eyes hadn't betrayed him.

"Of course you do." She said, stalking closer, a murderer unmasked. "You reek of reservation and _fear_."

Before he realized it, she had already grabbed the man by the wrist, twisting the arm in such a way that pain was inevitable. His feet take him to her on its own as his sword returned to his claw-arm, and he grabbed her with it. She looked up at him, her eyes fiercer than even those of Noahs', and it took him seconds to find his voice again.

"Rei-san, please stop." He pleaded, looking down at the crying and wailing man who repeatedly shook his head and mumbled gibberish. She said nothing, merely observing him with cold severance. He gulped. "I-I don't know what you're doing, but he's a human –"

"That side with the Earl," She finished, her voice too casual. "He brought this on himself."

With that said, she snapped his forearm with her knee, and he screamed.

"Rei-san, stop!" He shouted, and hit body bolted forward at her, trying to do something. She was quicker than he thought, and before he realized it he was grabbed by the cape and thrown into Kanda, who gasped and coughed at the sudden impact. "Gah!"

"Don't interfere, Allen." She said coolly, stabbing Narukami and IXA to the ground. He faintly saw her left arm and hand bled, but he couldn't focus on that as the man twisted and moaned in her grasp, unable to break her hold. She lifted her head up to look at him and continued. "I don't tolerate any kind of interruptions. This will be your last warning."

"Rei-san, you can't –!" He said, arm reaching for her. But she was too far away, and he could do nothing but watch as she broke the man's arm.

"That's radius and ulna," She said to the man without emotions or remorse of any kind. "That marks the third bone I broke. Now, moving on are your carpal bones. There are ten of those, but human hands can't break them easily, so…"

She picked IXA off the ground, dropped the man's arm to the earth and plunged the tip of the rapier into his wrist.

"No, stop!" He cried, but his voice was swallowed by the stranger's howl of pain and the thunders and rains that won't stop pouring down like it's the end of the world. He tried again, but she wouldn't heed his words, instead picking up more speed as she slowly and systematically broke the bones of the man's wrist by stabbing them through with the Innocence.

To use Innocence in such a way, by a loving woman – he couldn't find the logic behind it. He hadn't known she was capable of this –…

"That's ten down," She said and carelessly removed the blade from the man's flesh, flicking it in the rain to rid the obsidian sword of the foul blood that had stained it. Allen felt like he wanted to cry and vomit, and he looked at Kanda and Lavi – they were both shocked, stunned by the sudden revelation. A thought crossed his mind – a thought he never wanted to have –

 _And before me is a murderer, clad in black, hidden beneath the mask of a caring and loving doctor. A mask we all fell for._

"Now, to Metacarpals," She said simply, her booted foot planted onto the broken wrist harshly, pinning the man's hand against the damp earth as she raised her rapier and placed the tip on the back of his hand gently. Allen could only watched in horror and silently begged her to stop, knowing what she had planned to do next –

 _No, no, please, no more! Don't do it!_

She slowly pressed the sword onto the man skin until it break through, then further, further, further –

"ARRRRRGHHHHHHH!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, his whole body convulsed as pain seized him. But Rei's expression, as far as Allen can discern past the red iron mask, remained aloof, uncaring, and cold. She looked down – both literally and metaphorically – at the man writhing underneath her cruel administrations.

"Stop! Please!" He cried and rushed forward, only for another arc of lightning to interfere and stop him. Her eyes glanced up at him, then the other two, who looked just as horrified as he was, before returning her gaze towards the man and resumed her activity. So he tried again, forcing his terrorized body to move against his instinct. "Rei-san! Stop!"

Just a second and he found himself lying flat on the ground, his vision half-whited out as his head hit the ground hard. He groaned and raised his head to see that all she used was Narukami to blast away the dirt he was standing on and cause him to lose his balance. He looked up at her –

"Allen, I will not repeat myself." She said slowly, each word laced with poison as she addressed him with not even care. "Do not interfere. One more time and I will _. Kill_. You."

Those last three words sent chills down his spine, and he gulped.

And after that, all he could do was watch in terror as she broke the man's hand completely before moving to the other arm, her administration slow and precise, perfected into drawing out pain and suffering. And her face – it was not just calm. It's as if she was… _enjoying_ it.

All Allen had ever known about her seemed like a lie, as the woman before him was the opposite of everything he had seen.

"Names, please." She said once she was done with the last finger. The man sobbed like a child. Allen's eye then caught the strange movement underneath the man's skin, rippled like waves. And soon –

His arms _regenerated_.

"Why – why can't I heal my leg!?" The man cried again as he tried to wriggle free from her hold, but she refused it and stabbed Narukami right through his right palm, pinning him there while her foot held the other wrist. He thrashed more violently but his attempts to escape fail, punished with violent lightning jolts coming from the golden blade.

"Because the thing that inflicts that wound is this sword," She said coolly, pointing at Narukami as she adjusted her sleeves and mask. "These two blades are specifically… _tailored_ to counter the Owl. You, a pale imitation of such creature, are no match for it… and these weapons."

 _Tailored? What does she mean?_

He seemed to not be the only one asking that question; Lavi had glanced his way, as did Kanda, and the three of them shared something akin to puzzlement at her words. But he had no time to ponder on it long as the screams pierced through the heavy rain as she began her cruel _interrogation_ over and over again, breaking his bones – and his spirit – at a much slower pace than minutes prior.

God, he cannot take this, but how could he stopped her when they were all battered from the fight while she was at her peak?

"So," She began as she was about to start her third round. The man sobbed and groaned pathetically, his body seemed to heal out of his control. Rei only observed him as his eyes slowly flickered to her before resuming speaking. "I will ask again; what are the names? There can't possibly be only one of you out here. How many? Two? Three? Ten?"

"I – I truly don't know!" He cried, and wailed harder as her arm gripped his hand and held his limb up, her knee placed on the arm in the gesture that she will start breaking him again. "I truly don't!"

"Don't lie to me." She said threateningly, her eyes fierce like an animal. "I can _smell_ reservation in you."

She snapped the arm's bone harder than the last two times, and the man responded with a scream at the top of his lungs.

"I won't ask again." She said evenly, as if nothing had changed, and glared him down as she skewered IXA deep into the man's bones. Allen closed his eyes as tight as he could – he couldn't bare this. It was all too much; this wasn't the Akihiro Rei he knew. This was someone else entirely – _a monster_. "The names."

"I'll tell you!" He wailed between sobs and moans, writhing weakly in an attempt to break free from her hold. She twisted his arm harder, making his breath stopped short and elicit out a weak cry from the man. After staying in the same pose for ten seconds, the man blabbered. "Erin Krueger and Cullen Abraham Noels. That – that's the other two! No more!"

"How can I be certain you're spilling out the truth and everything you know?" She asked, letting go of his twisted and deformed arm carelessly, glancing at the cackling Narukami behind her as she did.

"B-Because I am! I-I swear to all things holy and unholy!"

"Hmm." She said, backing off. And when Allen thought she was done, she went back in and kicked the man's ribcage so hard he heard _cracks_. "Lair!"

"NO!" He screeched, writhing desperately. "I-I am telling you the truths! I am! I really am! They are Information Brokers! Like me!"

"Lair." She hissed, placing her boot right above his testicles. The man – and him, too – looked terrified. And they should be as she leant slightly forward. "One last chance. Tell me _more_."

"I am! I wasn't lying or holding a thing back!"

"She simply shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Something was crushed beneath the tip of her boot, and the man screamed at the top of his lungs.

Lavi saw Kanda flinched and Allen paled at her administration. He himself had just crossed his legs together instinctively. Shivers ran up, down and all over his body as his eye locked upon the man, whimpering and writhing pathetically in pain. She crushed the remains to the ground and stepped back.

"Istanbul!" He screeched. "That's where! I promise I don't know anymore!"

"You could've saved yourself from so much pain if you'd just given up sooner." She said coldly, looking down on him like a noble would to a lowly slave.

Her Innocences then returned to its black suitcase form, lying innocently beside each other on the train tracks. She picked them both up then backed away, her eyes remained cold as she stepped off the track with the man still moaning on the ground, writhing as his –

 _His blown off leg is growing back._

Allen watched in terror at the unnatural regenerative prowess, and slowly walked over to Kanda, unsure of what to do. The man himself seemed to be comparing that regeneration to something, but what he didn't know, and he absently grabbed Allen's wrist and pulled himself up shakily. Then, out of the corner of his eyes, Rei was waving for them to go to Lavi, in which they did without a word. His eyes lingered on the two of them, one a human, and one a monster –

But at this point, he didn't think Rei is… a human. Not now, and not mentally, at least. This, he couldn't distinguished her from Tyki or the Earl – the glee in her eyes as she snapped the man's spirit, the eagerness, the anticipation, it's all wrong, and his core twisted and turned at the thoughts.

"And as promised, I'll let you go. That is…" She trailed off and points to the right, in the distance where their destination lies. "If you can regenerate your leg and get off the track in time."

There's a horn of the train, and he paled as he realized what she meant.

"N-no! Rei-san, don't-!" He reached forward, his voice desperate, as he tried to scramble towards the man. He might be a monster, but if he still had the skin of a man and no soul bound to him, then he must have a human part under there, somehow. And he couldn't allow him to be killed –

"Allen!" Despite his injuries, Lavi still managed to run to him and wrestled him down to the ground. He struggled and cried and kicked desperately, trying to break free as he could see the train from afar. It's coming in too fast, and it's too close. The man's leg had only formed into a red stump, and he crawled at them, his eyes pleading, while Rei watched eager as she folded her weapons back into its suitcase form.

"NO! NO NO NO!" He cried –

 _And the train ran him over_.

* * *

Blood splattered on the track, his entrails crushed and sprayed across the rain-soaked ground.

Lavi gaped at the display while Allen thrashed about helplessly, unable to stop the horrid execution – although indirectly – the _kind_ doctor had pulled.

She watched with cold and fierce eyes, slightly and quietly enjoying the death of her tortured subject before walking across the track, stepping carelessly onto the once-man and to them.

Allen froze upon her approach and pried himself off Lavi, scrambling away. "D-don't come near me! Stay away!"

She paused, her face unreadable as she set her suitcases down and crouched before Lavi, who seemed as unsure as Kanda was. None of them know what to do or feel about this whole situation, and Lavi would be surprised if any of them did. She was such a kind and caring woman while in the order, no ill-will in her actions in the slightest, that much was certain. But… today they saw the other side, the mask of a killer they never knew she possessed and Allen, who Lavi considered a highly idealist, highly optimist individual, took that badly. He didn't blame him, because even an impartial party like himself couldn't tear his eye away from her, not because she is beautiful (in which she is, very much so), but because he was _afraid_ that if he did, he'd die.

She hover one of her hands above him injured leg and looked up, asking for his permission to take a look. He gulped and nodded. His head felt heavy, and his heart was racing, adrenaline beating in his ears to stay away from her. He had to fight all of that back down as she caressed his leg with great care; the other hand removed her mask and kept it by the belt.

"The steel isn't bent." She stated quietly, moving her hand to his calf and the other to under his knee, bending it slightly with great care. She stopped as soon as he hissed, and continued only when he nodded his head. "Your muscle tone looks good. Any numbness?"

"N…no…" He replied, wincing slightly.

"Let's get you to town. Checking the injuries in the middle of the train track is not the best plan." She said, standing up and grabbing her Innocence. Casting a glance at Kanda who stood rigidly by an intestine and Allen who stared at her fearfully, she sighed and smiled sadly to herself before bowing. "I'm sorry for such a horrid display, gentlemen. I'll try to restrain myself more next time."

Next time? _There will be a next time?_

Allen almost said that, and so did he, but the look of guilt on her face confused them and shut them up.

Why would she marvel at the death of her enemy then _feel guilty after?_

"I can see what you're thinking." She stated simply as she pressed a piece of straight wood to his leg and used her overcoat to bind hit. It was then that he saw her injured arm, bitten and soaked with blood. He looked up and opened his mouth to ask, but before he could she continued. "I'm used to it. Naturally, it comes with the job. Which reminds me – I am an information broker in the service of House Hanover, under Queen Victoria herself."

"You _WHAT!?"_

That was from him. He looked at Allen – confused and afraid – before flicking his eye to Kanda. To his surprised, the man only crossed his arms and said nothing more. So he turned his gaze to her and saw that damned smile that concealed everything under it. He _hated_ that.

"This should keep you from feeling more pain. And now we'll have to walk to the town." She stated simply, glancing at Kanda. "Can you carry him?"

Kanda only nodded and walked up to him, his face hard and unreadable. Once he reached him, he turned to her. "Why did you do that?"

She didn't reply right away. Instead she smiled, grimly and with regret, before picking up her suitcase, eyes set towards their destination. Before she set off, she turned to look at Kanda in particular, a faint smile gracing her lips. "You can't win the war without sacrificing something, Kanda-san. I'm just making that sacrifice."

They stared after her in silence.

…and once she was out of earshot, Kanda breathed; "Fucking hell…"

"I agree." Lavi muttered darkly, eyeing her bloodied footprints on the mud. His eye then flicker towards remains of the unfortunate soul that had crossed her path. His appearance before was unmistakably that of the Owl, but… if his memories serve – as they always do – the Owl sounded… _feminine_. And from their brief exchanges, he concluded that this must be the Earl's doing.

But that can be thought over later.

"She killed him." Allen said, his voice trembling terribly at the edge. "She killed him. She killed a human!"

"I'd hardly call that a human, Allen." Lavi said as Kanda dragged (yes, _dragged_ ) him up by the elbow. He staggered slightly and hissed as he puts a sight weight behind his injured leg. Without waiting for Allen's response, he said, "I am saying this from a strategic viewpoint; you find an unknown in this war, you have to fish out information about it. She did just that."

"But –"

"Torture is another matter altogether." He said with a hard look after the lady who had long since went out of sight. "I don't agree with her methods. Not in the least."

"…We'll figure this whole thing out later." Kanda said. "Let's go to that town first, and then we'll have a chance of a _chat_ with her, Sprout."

He saw Allen slowly lowered his head, surrendering for now. Lavi nodded at him then, to Kanda, he said, "Let's go."

* * *

They arrived at the train station hours later, exhausted.

Once they got onto the platform, there were already people; medics and helpers, waiting for them. They were flocked as soon as they walked passed the first tile, and when inquired, they said their fellow exorcist had informed briefly to them what had happened and had requested help.

Allen was quietly glad that at least she still has that side in her.

Not that it negated the things he saw, but at least it gave him some kind of peace.

Once they get to the inn (with the exception of Lavi, who was booted to the nearby hospital for a quick check-up first) they each scattered into their rooms, Kanda looking more concerned than he normally would. Not surprising, of course, but it's unsettling to see the man with the resolve of steel falter a bit like this.

Once his luggage (or what's left of it) is thrown into his room, he changed his cloth and walked into the lobby to find Rei praying silently with both hands clasped together. He didn't know the language, but he figured it was some Sanskrit, from his travels with Cross. His brows furrowed slightly as he walked to the nearby sofa and sit down as quietly as he could.

She turned to look at him and only nod once before resuming her prayer, with the words sounding calm and offering some sort of sympathy to the dead. He waited patiently until she finished, and when she did, he murmured. "So… you are religious?"

"Not really, no." She denied almost instantly, smiling to herself as he activated Narukami first, its blade stained with now dried blood. She reached for a piece of cloth beside her and a flask. "My mother and father were. I'm a woman of science. I believe in no miracles."

"Then why did you pray?"

"I pray for those that died, whether by my hands or by the Akumas." She said simply, dropping the content of the flask onto the blade and carefully rubbed the liquid off, a few drops at a time. "I'm Buddhist, by the way."

"Ah." He voiced. Running out of things to say, he remained silence and fished out the deck of cards he always carried about him, playing with them and flipping the hardened paper between his fingers and hands deftly. His silver eyes spied her once in a while; she seemed calm with that strange exhaustion at the edge of her feature. Everything she was doing seemed to have some sort of tiredness stuck to them, but it was subtle an untrained eye wouldn't be able to discern.

Noticing his look, she turned slightly and smiled. Only then did he notice small bags under her eyes and the fatigue behind her chocolate brown eyes. He was about to say something, but she cut him off as she returned her attention to her Innocence. "I'm sorry you saw… that display. And you are qualified to judge me anyhow you like. I won't hold it against you."

"N-no, it wasn't that, Rei-san." He quickly said, leaning forward slightly. But still she refused to look at him. "It's just… I can't wrap my head around it. Why did you do what you did? Why didn't you at least offer him a quick death instead of letting him face fear and linger like you did?"

She was silenced for quite some time, and when he was about to give up trying to find answer, she replied, her voice even and calm. "Wars are multifactorial, Allen. Information, firepower, loyalty of the men… these things are the three main factors a war is won or lost. What I did was to ensure that we gain as much information as we could so we would at least not fall behind too much."

"…But was it all necessary?"

"Do you think asking him nicely would work?"

He opened his mouth, but ultimately closed them. Reluctantly, he began to see reason. Of course, he would still try to stop her, but… "I… I see now. But –"

"That doesn't mean you agree." She finished his thoughts for him. "I know, Allen, and I'd be damn disappointed if you do." She turned to look at him and smiled warmly. "I like you because of your optimism and your love for every single being, living or dead. And I admire that. Don't ever lose it, okay?"

He blinked, unsure of what to say. It was as if she enjoyed the torture AND is scared of herself for being so at the same time. He frowned, and upon coming up with no real explanations or anything, sighed and forced a smile back at her. "I see… If you say so, Rei-san."

"And you can drop the suffix, Allen. I know you Englishmen aren't good with Asian tongue." She said and laughed light-heartedly. "Besides, I don't really deserve that much respect. We're only three years apart. That's hardly any indication to use the suffix _–san_ , you know?"

"If you wish, Rei." He replied with a short laugh of his own. "But… Can I ask why did you seem to enjoy it? The tortures, I mean."

"Ah." She voiced, her hands never ceased scrubbing the blade. She frowned slightly as her thoughts scrambled inside her skull. "I take some kind of delight when my enemies break. Because if I don't, I'll be the first one to fall apart, and I can't have that. Not yet, anyway."

"What does that mean?"

"Like an executioner. If he doesn't get a few screw loose himself, he'll fall apart and go down the hole called madness. I'm the same." She said evenly and then flicked her wrist, deactivating Narukami in a flash of light. She then unfolded IXA from its confinement and started cleaning it in the same manner she did with the blade of lightning.

"…Why did you become a doctor, then? Guilty conscience?" He inquired.

She didn't pause a beat when she said; "No."

He hadn't expected her to answer what she did.

Inhaling, she continued, her hands slowed considerably. "I became a doctor because all I've ever been able to give the world is death and darkness. A little light added couldn't hurt."

"Ah, so you're trying to offset… your other work, then?"

"Yes, indeed." She said, smiling as she turned to look him in the eyes. "Afraid not… as long as you don't turn against humanity at large, I am no enemy of yours."

He quirked an eyebrow. "Are you talking about the Fourteenth?"

"Mm. Not intentionally." She muttered, looking out the window with a sigh, her eyes dark and filled with something he identified as "guilt". Her posture was slightly stiff, her shoulders hunched, and after a long while she relaxed back to where she was and rubbed at her already cleaned blade until he could see his own reflection in it. "But that doesn't matter. Whether you are a Noah or not matters little to me; if you harm an innocent, my blade will be there for your head."

"Ah, I see." He said stiffly. He hadn't thought of Rei as someone who'd do any and all things necessary to achieve her goal. But at least she had an, say, _understandable reasons_ behind her actions unlike those hypocrites high up in the chains of commands.

But he must remain wary of her – after all, she did mercilessly kill a man without a spec of remorse in her eyes.

"I'll request for my missions to be solo'd from here on out."

Her voice broke his thoughts, and he stared dumbly at her for a few minutes before he finally got up and yelled. "Are you mad!? You're not a General and if one of those thing – that man – appeared again, you –"

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." She cut him off without looking at him. "Besides, my talents lie in covert ops. Bringing even one more people with me usually hinders my effort. I'm more of a guerrilla tactician, you know?"

"So _we_ are a hindrance?" He said, not making an effort to conceal his bubbling anger. How could _she_ imply such a thing after he expressed _concern!?_

"Frankly? In term of stealth, most of you but a few are." She replied without a pause and looked at him through the corner of her eyes. "Your talents and mine are different, Allen. You can defend dozens on your own while I can only care for myself. I work best alone, without anyone I need to protect or worry about when I unleash my wrath."

"…I understand now." He said after a long pause and bowed his head. "I'm sorry for overreacting, Rei."

She waved dismissively and deactivated Narukami. "I put the words horribly, so it was ultimately my fault, worry not. Now go get some sleep while I go out and gather some information, hmm?"

Without waiting for his reply, she threw her coat over her shoulders, tugged the suitcases along with her, and left without another word.

* * *

Tyki and Road seemed to always have _shit luck_ with this Owl thing lately.

Like right now, where they were supposed to track the progress of one of the three successful Artificial Owls, and instead saw it get wrecked by that lady who seemed more pissed than the Earl from Jasdevi's memory himself.

And then they were in the same town the exorcists were, only to get cornered _by the real fucking thing_.

"Hyahahaha," It was not the failed flesh that the Owl possessed, but rather its real body, towering at least ten feet high, its shadow wailing over them and its one madly-rolling eye rolled about as it laughed, its long tongue lolling off the side of its mouth. "There, there, little rabbits, fancy meeting you here!"

"Fancy meeting _you_ here, Owl." Tyki said, grinning in defiance. He had just discovered the hard way that not only could this thing shoots lightning like the golden sword that lady Rei or whatever had, he also cannot phase through it. His right arm was tugging the Road-doll close to his chest while his left arm dangled uselessly beside him. "Why are you here? What are you?"

"What I am is not of interest to ya, boy and girl." It said with an everlasting grin as its eye landed on Road. "Hey, little doll, you mind if I ask you a simple, little more than aggressive, question?"

"I do." Road reply, flailing slightly in his arm. "What do you want, monster?"

"Monster?" Its grin only widen at the remark of its nightmarish appearance even Noahs wasn't be able to match. Its one rolling eye stared her down in mocker as its three-fingered limbs carried it forward. "Now, dear, that is quite a suitable term for someone such as myself, the One-Eyed Owl. But this isn't about your curiosity; this is about mine. You shall answer my inquiry, and failure in doing so would spell instant death for you."

Tyki held Road impossibly closer to him, his lips curled up as he snarled as intimidatingly as he could. But it served only as some sort of amusement for the thing, for it only chuckled with its gigantic meat-tenderizing mouth.

"So, here is the question." It began, its tongue lolling as it gave them a lopsided grin. "How goes this Artificial Owl project of yours?"

"Great," Tyki chirped, a forced smile appearing on his lips. He slowly backed away – he knew he couldn't phase through it, and he knew that despite its tremendous size, it's quicker than even him. If he had even a slightest of chance to run away, he had to blind-side it, somehow.

That was easier said than done.

"Details, maybe?" It crooned, stalking closer.

"Well, one of our little shits just got slaughtered by that girl you're in a love-hate relationship with." He said truthfully, leaving out the _said girl is currently in town_ part to imagination.

"Oh? That means the thing is weak, then?" The Owl cooed, chuckling to itself as something struck its twisted humor. "Veeeeery good, very good indeed!"

Before he had a chance to do anything more, it lunged.

Suddenly, a flash of brilliant gold assailed the Owl right in its head from above, forcing it back by several feet. And landed between them was no one other than the damnable girl he had wanted to exact revenge on for so, _so_ long.

"Good evening, Takatsuki-san." Akihiro Rei said casually as if greeting an old friend in a bar, the golden blade cackles with lightning in her right, bandaged arm. "Galahad-san's information is always on-point, I see."

"Galahad?" It repeated. "Oh, you mean that man Marcus something. Ah, so that was a fake name, hm?"

"Well, not really. He changed his name and a certain field researcher keeps forgetting." She said with what Tyki assumed to be a smile, since she was wearing her damnable iron mask. Her eyes glanced at them briefly before turning them to the Owl. "I'm surprised you'd stop taking control of those abominations left from the Earl's experiment, though. Why?"

What? She _knew_ about that? And the Earl's experiment?

"Well, I find it no longer enjoyable to be prowling with weak bodies while my original can take care of itself pretty… conveniently, I should say." It said, its reason weak. It was as if what it did, it did simply because it _wanted_ to, not for some hidden King-whatever agenda. "Besides, the Esteemed King is getting a bit… hmm, _bored_. So I thought I'd spice things up for him.

"Who is this King anyway?" She snarled. "What does he want?"

Owl only grinned, and lunged at Tyki rather than the girl she was talking to.

To his surprise, this enemy who gave him a terrible scar jumped in between them and used the black rapier as a shield to defend them from the gaping jaw of the damnable creature. He looked at her as if he was seeing a ghost, and uttered his thoughts before he could stop himself. "What the fuck – _why?_ "

"I have my own reasons." She replied and summoned the lightning, drawing it into a large arc that decimated all things non-living, the Owl already perched on the wall before the arc was even drawn. Rei looked up, her eyes dark. "Are you not going to fight? You're almost guaranteed to kill me."

"Eh, it's no fun. I love dramas and all things related." It said with a grin. "Well now, I've got what I'm here for. The King is pleased. See ya!"

And it rushed off into the distance.

"Um…" Tyki coughed, breaking the silence. Rei didn't even enter a battle stance or let off the slightest of malignant aura, only… this neutrality, simply that. And it made him and Road uncomfortable. "Thank you…?"

She simply shrugged at his expressed gratitude. "Even if we are enemies, the Owl is not something I want anyone to face. You'd do well not to cross it again, or that'd be your doom."

"Oh, I see." _No, I don't understand still. What fucking kind of monster would make an exorcist save a Noah out of pity?_ Of course, he didn't say any of those things he had in mind, only a mild, seemingly modest response.

She caught on to that, however. "Trust me, there are things even the worst of men do not deserve."

"Well, you read my mind." He said with a wolfish grin. "But mind, miss, this enemy you save will come back and bite you in the ass one day. I still have that scar you gave me, you know?"

"Tyki!" Road hit him lightly. Well. It was only then that he realized the very predicament they were in – this woman, who could top a few Noahs together, all at once, was standing before two Noahs, one whose dream couldn't affect her and the other who couldn't go past her lightning and steel.

She seemed to know that, but she elected not to attack. Instead she waved them off. "Leave. Pretend that we didn't meet tonight. Next time, I promise I'll bring everything I have on the table."

He blinked.

 _What did she just say? They never met?_

To pretend that he never met an enemy is an insult to his pride, but… Tyki was not an idiot. He knew he had to take it, one way or another. She could best him in combat, for one, and there is no telling if the Owl will return. After he briefly consulted with Road through his gaze, he nodded.

Before he left for good, she held up a finger. "One thing, if I may."

"Uh… yeah, sure? What is it?" Road was the one to speak this time.

"Do you have an idea who this King Takatsuki-san kept talking about is?"

"No." They said simultaneously. They weren't lying, either; the Owl is a mad beast who spouted useless shits all the time. To even have a grasp of its true agenda could be considered a success paramount to any other.

"I see." She said simply. "Then our conversation is over. You may leave, and the next time we see each other, it will be at the end of the other's blades."

"Yup, sounds good to me." He said with a mock salute. "See you then, lady, and prepare for a party later."

Now, back to the Earl.

He had to wonder what kind of comments his family will make about the ridiculousness of this situation.

* * *

 _"_ _So the rumors are true then?"_

A Cardinal spoke to me through my golem as I reported the findings from that mission to him, his voice reeked with concerned. I merely nodded, out of habit, at his inquiry and crossed my arms; a behavior most would see as unsavory to the backbone of the Order's politics. "Yes, and from my own investigations elsewhere, it seemed like they already planned to make a scene out of Alma Karma's body, too. The Owl's decision to make a proper appearance also makes it difficult for me to move around freely. I'll have to be very careful."

 _"_ _And this… massive assaults all over the world; what's your take?"_

"Distractions and perhaps some kind of announcements," I commented, my eyes flickering to the dark sky beyond the glass.

 _"_ _I'll think about what to do, but I have a general idea."_ He said. _"You can rest now, Akihiro. God bless you on your journey."_

I bowed and, before turning off the golem, "Thank you, Cardinal."

My insides twisted, my guts burned, my hands and feet cold and numb.

Darkness is coming.

* * *

 ** _Yeaahhhhhh foreshadowing... :v There that too lmao._**

 ** _Soooo here's the thing. College is hard, so I'll have to be more like 2-4 weeks per chapter-ish. I know, I wanna write more than this too, but I have to choose sleep before work D; I'm so sorry!_**

 ** _Welp. I'll be seeing you guys again, hopefully in a few more weeks and not 5 like this one ;(_**

 ** _See ya! :D Bah-bye!_**


	17. Chapter 17

**_Howdie! Sorry it's so late. It took me 3 months to have and opportunity to go home grrrr._**

 ** _Anywho, you ain't here for my ranting. Please Read and Review! Enjoy :D_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter Seventeen: Calm before the Storm_**

Besides the railway torture bits, the mission was rather uneventful.

Well, maybe except for an explosion that literally sent a (luckily) abandoned cloister twenty feet into the air.

That was not Akuma, by the way.

"Thank you for your hard work, exorcists."

The finder in that area, Maria – Lavi remembered her being there during the events in Chita, too – said and bowed as they prepared to depart by the train station. Rei smiled and waved at her, same goes for Allen and him (in which he might have or have not tried to flirt with her) and Kanda who, as usual, remained silent and unresponsive to any kind of courtesy shown.

Speaking of which, Rei, as she is now, looked pretty normal – no dead air hung around her head, no other outer worldly feel around her at all. It was as if that torture she performed was only reserved for the extremes of her enemies.

Well, that's fine, he guessed. It was a bit too extreme for his taste, but he's seen much, _much_ worse than that. Besides, that man elected to turn himself into a monster, so it's fair she'd be repelled by his actions.

"Maria-san, one more thing!" Rei called from the window as the train's horn bellowed. "Catch!"

She threw something at the finder who caught it so easily it was as if snatching an object no larger than the size of a fist was an easy task common man and woman should be able to do. He didn't see what it was, but her lips curled into the slightest of smile as she looked at it. "So… to poke fun at Galahad for his poor choice of face name?"

"Yes!" Rei said with a merry laughter, waving her hand as the train started to move. "I'll be seeing you later! Have fun scouting!"

The train moved, and once the station was out of sight, Rei closed the window and sat back down onto her seat, her smile vanished into thin air.

The atmosphere was heavy, at best, and her refusal to take part in any attempt at merry conversation did nothing to help. He thought, after seeing her exchanged a few silly stories with Maria, she might be in a mood to shed light into some _things_ , and boy was he very wrong. It was as if she had a switch in her head, and she could flip it at her will…

Well, it should be expected from an information broker, he supposed.

"Lavi," A voice urged him and snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned to look at Kanda, whose eyes betray no worries underneath. The man's arms were tense, and shoulders slightly lifted. He looked at Rei briefly – and seeing that she was not paying them much attention, continued at him – "I need to talk to you for a second."

He knew Kanda was worried about her, for her… and also _feared_ her to a lesser extent. He did, too, if he was to be honest with himself. That kind of calmness when executing the man so perfectly and without remorse is _terrifying_. He had seen much of a human's cruelty, and she managed to top most of them off with a single demonstration of her knowledge regarding _tortures_.

He followed Kanda out of the cabin silently, and they managed to find for themselves two seats at the bar. He ordered a drink – Kanda surprisingly did, too – before talking. "Well… you're worried, aren't you?"

"I don't know what's going on inside her head." Kanda stated, catching the glass sliding his way with ease and downing all of its content in one go before ordering another. "I don't know her anymore."

"Same." He said, taking his own drink at a slower, more… _matured_ pace. "I don't know if I can't help you with this, Yuu."

"I didn't expect you to." He murmured, ordering another glass, wearing a face of a weary man ready to drink himself under the table. "I just… fuck; I don't know what I'm going to fucking do with these startling bits of information."

"Ignore it?"

"As if that's a choice. For you, maybe. But not me."

"Well, you've heard of people having multiple, um, _personalities_ while doing their jobs, right?" He tried, and upon Kanda's head nod in affirmative, he continued. "She is an information broker, so this might be just one of her many "faces"… but I know this much; her cares for all of us is a million percent from the bottom of her heart and genuine."

"What makes you so sure?"

"I'm good at reading people, Yuu. That face she uses caring for us is genuine – it's her." Well, the face she used torturing that man is also a real thing, but he ain't divulging that information just yet. No need to say it if it'd cause more harm than good, right?

Kanda stared at him, contemplating his words for but a moment before nodding and downed his drink a bit too harshly, resulting in a fit of coughs. "Ow, fuck! Wrong hole!"

"Take it slow, Yuu. Geez, I've never seen you so…" He paused, thinking of the appropriate word. It dawned on him after three exact seconds. "… _distressed_."

"I am not distressed you one-eyed fuck." Kanda snarled.

"Sure you aren't." Lavi snorted back, sipping his drink. "You should see your face a minute ago. Soooooo full of anxiety."

"Shut up."

"So you admit you're nervous."

"No."

"Your actions say otherwise." He said with a lofty grin.

This time, Kanda didn't respond, only grunted before slamming his head onto the counter, rattling the bartender and almost sent the glass before Lavi flying into oblivion.

Then it came; the silence, awkward and heavy. Kanda downed his third shot while Lavi asked for some juices instead – he didn't want to get drunk now, of all the times… besides, he needed to be sober if Rei and Allen ever fought, since her ideology clashed with Allen a lot more than he's comfortable. Allen believed in redemption while Rei believed in revenge and punishments. Those are on the opposite end of the spectrum, and should it went into a full-scale brawn, he'll have to be _very_ sober if he were to break it up.

But they had a little chat right after the… incident, and Allen didn't seem all that upset afterward. So, maybe he was overly-paranoid? Well, one can never be too prepared for the worst, right?

Before he could think of anything more, a hand was gently placed on his shoulder – he turned to see Rei smiling warmly at him, no trace of emotions shown on the train track seen on her face. She regarded Kanda with a small nod before sitting beside them.

After a moment, she ordered the red wine of her choice and said; "Don't worry about me and Allen. Aside from the difference in our ideology, nothing else clashed and we are more than happy to hear each other out."

"Are you a mind reader or something, lady?" He mused, glancing at Kanda who looked back at him, equally confused, then shrugged. "Well, I'm glad it worked out, I guess?"

"Worries were written all over the two of you. The anxiety and fear are strong within you, you know." She laughed merrily and took a sip. "Well, Lavi, there are some… _things_ I'd like to discuss with you–" She then glanced at Kanda briefly "– in private."

"Now I'm a third wheel, great." Kanda rolled his eyes, but gathered his things and his thoughts swiftly. "I'll go strolling somewhere then."

"Bye, Yuu." He waved.

" _Kanda_ , not Yuu, you shit." Kanda snarled back, and soon got glared down by the lady who seemed to not take kindly Kanda's constant abuses of his peers. The man snorted but said nothing more as he left the way they came.

After he was out of earshot, Rei's face turned grim as she pulled a piece of paper out from her coat. "You see, this decision is made after many sleepless nights trying to figure out the best course of actions."

"For _what?_ " He inquired. She played with the papers between her fingers a bit more as she contemplated on his words. With her silence, he continued to pry. "Rei, what the fuck are you planning?"

"I have a shady background, I never told anyone much about myself, I'm an information broker, and I'm good at misleading people into thinking I'm… say, some _one_ I'm not." She stated plainly. Oh, he doesn't like where this is going. Not in the least.

"What are you getting at?"

"I'm going to tell you half of the whole story." She said. "I cannot do this without having more than a few people I can trust at my side inside the Order, and you are one of the best candidates."

"What makes you think I'm trustworthy?" He asked back. "First, I'm a Bookman, I don't take sides for shits – forgive my rudeness. And second, what makes you think I can trust you after the stunts you pulled?"

"I'm not asking you to trust me." She said, staring him straight in the eye. Her hand grabbed his collar and pulled him closer. She uttered the next few words with no ill intend, but with power that could command an army. "I'm asking you to _work with me_ to achieve our goals – winning this war."

He gulped as shivers ran up and down his spine. After a moment, he said with as much calmness as he could've mustered. "As I said, winning or losing this war matters little to us Bookmen. We're only here for history."

She started into his eye and _god_ , did he wished she'd stop. Her eyes were burning like fire, and the intensity was too much for him to bear. He couldn't look longer, but she forced him to.

After what felt like eternity of staring, she pushed him away. "I'll respect your decision on the matter, then. But know that if you so much as stand in my way and winning this war, I will. Kill. You."

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Well, she sure didn't take lightly anyone who'd hamper progress, but also show enough kindness to any strangers not viewed as an enemy. So, if he remained a natural party, he should be fine. However… "What do you want me to do?"

"Keep my secrets and help me find a solution to my problems." She said vaguely, playing with that ominous necklace she said to be her "executioner's blade". "I have a lot of secrets need sharing and a few problems that need plans. I know you're a smart one, so I'm hoping I could gain your trust…"

"Trust? That's _what_ you're trying to get?"

She stopped him with a finger. "Sorry, wrong choice of word. I was hoping I could gain your, let's say… hmm… _cooperation_. Mutual benefits."

"And what would I gain from this?"

"Any information you want regarding hidden histories." She said with a smile. "I have good _diggers_ under my command, and they sure would love to find out buried, dirty secrets of war and betrayals unspoken."

"Wow," He whistled, forcing a smile on his face. "You sure have a lot of masks to wear, Rei-chan."

"You haven't seen the worst one yet." She mused. "So? Would you do it?"

"I mean winning this war would obviously benefit us, so sure, why not?" He said, laughing slightly and extended a hand. Rei took it briefly, and once she let go, he continued. "I knew you'd have a lot of cards up your sleeves, but who'd have thought you'd have _this_ many?"

"Looks are often deceiving." She smiled and pressed a finger to her lips.

"Aha."

She fell silence, and when he thought their conversation would be over, she continued in a hushed whisper. "When we reach the Order, you and Komui-san will be shown... _something_."

Her voice was so quiet. Vulnurable. Scared.

 _What could you possible show me that makes you so afraid?_

"I'll look forward to whatever this _something_ is, then."

"You'd take back your word when you saw what it is." She smiled sadly and took the last drops of wine down. "Now go and join the others. I'd like a moment to myself."

Without a word, he stood up and left, glancing back her way one last time.

* * *

"You should know better than anyone that _this_ is _so_ not okay."

"But you agree to it, too, Komui."

"…I know."

Lavi overheard Komui and General Cross talking when he entered the vacant training ring. His presence is regarded with a small nod from each of them. The Supervisor crossed his arms and looked away, thinking while the General brought out his cigarette and lit it on fire.

"Rei-chan filled me in only that you are here for the sake of trying to _strike a deal_ with Fourteenth. Is that true?" He asked as soon as he entered the little ring. Cross looked at him without any surprise shown on his face and nodded solemnly.

"Neah was never one to really listen. It's either gonna take a lot of convincing or reason beaten into him. Either way… we're not here for that." He replied with his teeth grounded together in frustration. "I knew, the first time I saw her, that she was not your normal exorcist. She knew a _lot_ more than she let on. And knowing about Fourteenth almost as much as I do on her own is just fucking _terrifying_."

"Information broking is an elusive business." Lavi said with a small laughter. " _Nothing is secret, everything is known and shared_ , they said."

Cross snorted.

"She said that she's going to _show_ us something. Do you know what?" Komui asked both of them as he made sure all of his communicators are off, so no one would know about this little meeting.

Lavi shook his head. "I had my speculations, but if her intelligence is anything to go by, my guess is we'll never know until it's shown."

"You're right." Komui echoed, adjusting his glass. "On an off note… how's your leg, Lavi?"

He hit his bad leg with his fist and grinned. "I have to say Rei is good at what she does. The pain is probably from the still non-union bone, but after some rest and some meds, I'm cool."

"Good to hear."

"Komui," Cross began, blowing out white smoke that lazily floated up into the air. "I heard Daisya just reported another serious gathering of Akumas. That true?"

"Yes, sadly." Komui replied. "And from what Akihiro-kun gathered and _secretly_ sent to me, she assumed the Earl is going to launch a world-wide assault as a, hmm, _distractions_ of some kind."

" _Distractions?_ " He and Cross voiced. They exchanged look before he decided to continue. "What is the need for _distractions?_ "

"She seemed to have an idea, but she won't divulge because there are too many possibilities, and if we try to prevent every outcome our forces will be spread too thin and that'd spell _disaster_ for us." He said, his expressions hard and thoughtful. It's rare seeing Komui like this, but when you saw it, that meant _shit_ is going to happen.

Before he could say anything more, a set of footsteps echoed throughout the nearly-deserted training ring, and entered Rei and another man with sandy hair and blue eyes, bright and unyielding. She bowed a short distance from them and smiled. "Thank you for coming at his hour."

"Who's he?" Cross asked, forgoing any courtesy, something he's not known of.

He remembered that man.

"Aiden, a field researcher, a mathematician, a physiologist," He said with a slight bow of his head. "And her faithful follower."

"Follower?" Lavi questioned.

"More like _accomplice_ , I'd say." She said with a smile while Aiden snorted and dusted himself. She handed him a suitcase – and it was only then that he noticed five black rings on her left hand's fingers. The color was the same –

"On your hand," He said, pointing as the rings that seemed to… _pulsate_ with some kind of _profaned vitality_. "That's –"

"IXA, in the form it was… _originally_ intended to take." She said with a grim smile as she held up her hand. The three of them exchanged glances, and before they could even say anything, she answered their unspoken question with even more mystery. "I know this might sound incredibly impossible, but IXA is but a _part_ of a whole."

"What do you mean?" Cross said.

She smiled and walked into the middle of the sandy training ring with Aiden standing by its edge, his hand pressed tight at the back of his neck while his other hand gripped the handle of her Innocence's suitcase form tightly with his thumb on the activation button. That stance made no sense to them at all, and they all looked between the two, puzzled.

"The flesh is fluid." She suddenly said, activating IXA. There were blood-like liquid that flowed outward from the ring and turned into steely strips that flowed in the air as if caressed by a breeze. The strips were long and hard but extremely bendable – qualities no usual steel would sport – and it seemed to contain so much _darkness_ that it made Lavi's guts twisted.

He wanted to throw up.

"It can be reshaped, remade." She said as she turned to face them, and –

"Oh my god…" The words left his mouth at the spectacles before him. "What is this…?"

"Pray… that it does not take too hideous a form."

* * *

"You seem a little worse for wear."

He said to the Chief as she sat in the corner of the OR after one of the more tiring surgeries. It was their third surgery in a row, and it began right after her return from the mission. So it was understandable that she would be dead tired. He was surprised she could remain so calm and rational even after all those sleepless days, let alone staying on her feet without swaying.

"Huh?" She looked up, a bit confused. She blinked once, twice, and smiled at him sheepishly. "Oh… sorry. What were you saying?"

"I said you looked a little worse for wear, Rei." He said, squatting down next to her as she fiddled with her shirt's hems. He stopped her by grabbing her wrist and pulled her hand away. She didn't even resist. "You should rest."

"I'm fine." She forced out. "I _need_ to work –"

"Rei, seriously. There's a mass mission coming up for you too, isn't there?"

"Ah." She murmured flatly, still twirling her fingers at the hem of her shirt. She then sighed and leant back against the cool tiles of the OR and said, "Yes. The reports of attacks all over the world require our attentions. It seems like the Earl is planning something _big_. It's distraction, for certain, but we can't just overlook it. There'll be too many casualties of war otherwise."

"You can't save everyone."

"I am well aware." She said. "But the thoughts of what the Earl could possible need to encourage this kind of reckless attacks baffled and terrified me. I'm not certain why he'd go this far…"

"Mm. He seems like the type to take it slow and easy. This seems… rushed."

"You read my mind." She laughed merrily. "Don't worry, Alexi-san. We'll see what he's planning when the operations started."

"Yeah, and you and I are going to have to clean up the mess from the fights." He said and bumped her arms with his fist lightly. She laughed and feigned injury, rubbing the spot as she smiled at him.

"Thank you for the pep talk. I'm better now."

"You still should rest." He insisted, standing up and stretched. His muscles were stiffed, and he imagined hers would, too, considering they've just finished an operation that required hours after hours of _standing still_.

"I will." She finally agreed, standing up and rubbing her eyes. "You'll have to cover my patients while I'm gone. Sorry for the trouble."

"Hey, hey, you've perfect reason!" He said. "I mean you were gonna go out there and save the world… or whatever. I'm more than happy to take your workload off your shoulders for a bit."

"Mm." She smiled and bowed. "Thank you a lot, Alexi-san."

"Would you please just call me _Alex_?" He said. Upon her confused expression, he explained. "I mean we've known each other for some time now and seriously, stop with the honorifics and the distances. Just call me Alex."

"Alright… _Alex_ ," She stressed the word, paused, then smiled. "I think this name suited you better than Alexi… er, no offense."

He shrugged and hit her in the head softly. "None taken. I mean I like the name Alex more too, to be honest. Ale-xi is a tad too long, if you know what I mean."

"Ow!" She cried out and rubbed her head, pouting at him. "That hurts."

"No it's not." He laughed and patted her back. "Well, you can rest now, but I think you still have to round the ICU. You're the attending of that ward, aren't you, Rei?"

"Oh yes. Right." She mumbled distractedly, fishing a small notepad she always kept on her body. She flipped pages after pages until she landed on one that wrote at the top, large and with circle, _ICU_. "So we have this patient here, I'll round him in the morning… Oh, bed 4 has been discharged. Scratch that out…"

"How many are left now?"

"Excluding this one there's four." She said with a smile. "Quite lucky, since I am the on-duty physician tonight. If things are going to go to hell, at least let me look over only four bed instead of twenty."

"Haha, very funny." He said. "I'll cover you. You go sleep after rounds."

She opened her mouth to object, but he shut her off with a finger to the lips.

"Nah-ah, you will _not_ go workaholic boss on me this time, Chief." He chided and knocked her in the head again. The younger yelped and rubbed her head carefully, pouting at him. "You go sleep after the rounds and off ward rounds tomorrow morning. That's a fucking order."

After a while, she relented. "Oh fine. You win. Soooo… let's go?"

"Sure."

They got up, and she walked towards the changing room, to don on her gown and did her duties for the night. He smiled to himself as she disappeared into the room, and frowned slightly.

Alexi felt like something bad was going to happen very, _very_ soon.

He hoped he was wrong.

* * *

Somehow he landed into another training session with Rei.

And hell, he didn't even know _how_.

Kanda repelled her strikes and countered with practiced precision, even so, she seemed more focused, unrestrained, as she struck back at the same time, hitting him square in the jaw and sent him staggering backwards. He cracked his knuckles and neck, trying to get his screaming joints and muscles to shut the fuck up somewhat.

"Why do I feel like you're _suddenly_ good at this?" He commented as he took another stance. Rei smiled and, instead of low stance guard or whatever, she chose to raise a fisted hand at him while the other arm went behind her back, her legs straight and relaxed. "Also, what the fuck's with that pose?"

"During my time after graduation, I sometimes work as field medics during some random fencing competition." She explained, and faster than his eyes could catch, she closed the distance. He almost got his head knocked off. "So I kind of borrow some of their misleading techniques."

"It fucking works I assure you!" He yelped as he dodged another hit and kicked at her, only for her to nimbly side-step out of the way. He wiped his brows and got into another stance. "Fuck, I could've sworn you weren't this good last time around."

"Because I was holding back." She said with a pleasant smile.

Why wasn't he surprised anymore?

"Speaking of holding back," She stated without a hint of exhaustion as she assaulted him relentlessly, her kicks and punches precise yet unpredictable. He was having a hard time repelling her despite being physically superior and he just couldn't fucking understand why. She kicked him square in the jaw and sent him staggering back, dazed. "I noticed you fought me in a… less serious manner than you would others. Why is that?"

"You already knew the answer, don't you?" He said, wiping his mouth and cracked his neck before charging. She raised an eyebrow as she dodged his flurries of blows with ease. "Don't play a fool. You already knew."

Because he _liked_ her, he found it hard to actually do anything that'd harm her, one way or another.

Well, _like_ maybe a bit of an _understatement_.

That's what Lavi said, anyway.

Her footsteps halted, bringing his to a short stop, too.

There was a strange look in her eyes as she contemplated his words. Her stance fell, and she looked away. For a second, he thought she rejected the idea, because he remembered that one time he kissed her and she kind of punched his jaw in –

"To be honest, the feeling is mutual."

He blinked.

"…What?"

"The feeling is mutual." She said with a sad smile as she relaxed completely, her fighting spirit vaporized in an instant. She looked straight at him, her eyes filled with so many emotions he felt his chest constricted painfully, his ribs crushing his innards and his heart beating in all the wrong ways.

Her eyes were so sad, so painful… it was as if her feelings were the things that are causing her pain.

"You mean you –" He began, but found himself unable to finish the sentence as her expression became sadder, darker. Resentment was there, pointing at herself and not him.

"I like you." She uttered quietly. Three simple words. It wasn't even _I love you_ , but he was happy to hear her say that. But he wavered when her expression hadn't changed – it was as if she _regretted_ feeling so. Before he could ask why, she answered that for him. "I like you. And I felt like you deserve… _better_. Kanda-san, please forgive me, but I simply cannot allow myself to care too deeply for anyone."

"And why is that?" He inquired, taking a tentative step towards her. She instantly backed away, so he stopped.

Silence was her answer.

He wanted to pursue more, to tell her she was wrong, and to do _something_. But as it was, he couldn't find his voice. Her expressions were a mixed of many things, namable or otherwise.

Her face returned to normal as she reentered a stance. "Let's continue with our training, Kanda-san. You will find my answers unsatisfactory regardless."

He simply nodded. He needed a lot of time to process that – her words, her expressions, everything. Why she couldn't care too deeply still eludes him, but her demeanors reflected a part of his own; she was in pain.

He'll give her as much time as he could. To both sort him and herself out.

And thus, the training resumed

He didn't even know when, but after about half an hour or so there were cheers and whistles and catcalls as their fight picked up in speed and ferocity – he caught a glimpse of that bulk of a man Galahad at the corner, crossed-arms and watching them with interest. He shrugged it off and tried to find an opening which, much to his chagrin, became more and more _impossible_.

She ducked down on all four when he swept kick the air, and before he could recover she slide her foot forward, knocking his only adherent to the earth off balance and sent him onto his back. He almost didn't sprung up to his feet in time when she axe-kick down, aiming for his head. She smiled innocently as she reentered that damnable fencer stance, with less knee-bending and more _taunting smile_.

Fucking hell, this woman is so hard to read.

"Tired, Kanda-san?" Rei inquired with a mischievous grin on her face, her forward fist tightened slightly. He snarled back and charged her again with as much speed as his legs could make.

She sidestepped that easily and raised a knee up in anticipation of his charge.

And it hit him square in the chest.

He choked and gasped as breaths left him and fell forward on all four, grabbing his chest as he tried to breathe. The proved much more difficult than he thought it would. Rei crouched down before him and silently instructed him to control his breathing, which he did, and it helped to some effect. After he became less… _tired_ , she stood up and clapped her hands. "Now, ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for observing our fights, but it is now over! I suggest you _leave this instant_."

He didn't see her face, but he didn't need to, because he got chills all over just from hearing those words. The crowd scattered back to their places, save for two – Aiden and that gigantic man. They smiled at her as the larger one approached.

"Always scary, ain't cha, miss." He said, his accent distinctly British.

She laughed heartily. "Of course! Otherwise they will just flock me and praise me – I do not need those."

Aiden crouched down beside him, debating inside himself whether or not to pat his back. The man thought better of it and decided not to, something Kanda silently appreciated. "You okay, Kanda?"

Hoarsely, he spoke, "I'm fine."

"So not okay." He joked and got up, stretching his legs slightly. "Hey, Rei, it's good to see you back in shape. He would've died if you've worn the mask."

"No need to remind me." She said and absently caressed the red iron mask – well placed at her belt. He had always wondered why this sand-haired man was so afraid of it. She seemed to share that sentiment, which inadvertently made him even more curious. "Anyway, I'm surprised you're still here, Aiden, Galahad."

"Boss' orders." He said with a shrug. "Eh, you already know it. The Earl's gonna make a big move, ain't he? We might as well retaliate with as much ferocity as we could."

"True." She said with a curt nod. "I still am not comfortable, if you know what I mean."

"We understand." Aiden said, and then waved kind-of dismissively. "Speakin' of which, those two old men wanna discuss somethin' with ya. You free now, right?"

She casted a quick glance at Kanda. He merely nodded at her, seeing that any more training with resulted in his complete beatdown. He still didn't want that, beside, this _discussion_ might as well made an impact – no matter how small – in this massive deployment they were going to go through.

She smiled at him in appreciation and nodded at the two. "I'll be there shortly, please tell them as such. Thank you for relaying the information, Aiden, Galahad. Godspeed, and good luck."

"To you, as well." They said and bowed slightly before leaving.

His gaze followed them until they were out of sight before he asked her, mostly out of curiosity. "What's that about?"

"Just a few… problems the information ring encountered." She said with a warm smile. "I'll have to go now, if you'll excuse me, Kanda-san. The _two old men_ they mentioned… might as well helped with our assignments."

"Ah." He voiced flatly. Just as he thought.

"I'll be going now, then." She said with a small bow. "See you later."

"Yeah," He said distractedly as she walked away.

Just how much is she hiding from everyone? He'll never know.

* * *

Her admittance that she likes him still haunted him to no end.

And to be frank, he both was joyous by it and felt _unease_ by it.

Because when she said she couldn't allow herself to feel too deeply… that reminded him of when he was younger. He knew what that meant – she's carrying a burden with her. A burden, deep and dark, a secret she didn't want anyone to see.

Just like how he was. And he hated it so much.

His musing, however, was cut short when the golem signaled the beginning of the mass deployment. As he heard it, the Earl has been sending _things_ all over the damn globe in hope to accomplish something. Probably a distraction, but it threatened the safety of the mass, so they cannot just sit by and wait in silence. Edgar told him that while the exorcists take care of the Akumas, he, Twi and few others will need to go to North America Branch for… _something_.

Rei seemed to know what that _something_ meant, but she wouldn't tell. And he didn't want to force her, so he just kept the question to himself.

"Kanda," A voice called, accompanied by a few knocks on the door. He sat up immediately, recognizing the voice. Throwing his suitcase over his shoulder and strapping Mugen to his belt, he stood up and walked to the door, opening it and was greeted by no other than the Beansprout. The younger looked up at him and nodded silently. "The Ark is ready. We're the first to leave."

"Hmph." He snorted and followed Allen silently through the hallway, with Link trailing behind them both. He had no idea who he'll be working with, since there were some last-minute changes, but he's fine with anyone, really.

Once they reached the Ark gate, he saw three of the five Third Exorcists – if he remembered correctly, their deployments were ultimately deemed necessary by the brass, thus the order to delay their uses were momentarily lift. Well, whatever. If they can take care of Akumas, that'd make his job easier.

"So, this is all?" He asked, gesturing around.

Allen shook his head. "No. Well –"

"I'm sorry I'm late." A voice said as the owner approached them. Rei walked up to both of them with but one suitcase.

Well, this just got really awkward.

"Why do you have only one Innocence with you?" Allen inquired, and he nodded at his words, also curious. "This is a seriously dangerous mission."

"I know." She said and held up her left hand. Only then did he notice that she now had five black rings with white markings, one on each of her fingers. "I never told you this, but this is IXA's form when I first activate it. I thought this is as good a time as any to return it to its previous strength."

"But – why don't you use it sooner?" Allen said Kanda's unspoken thoughts.

"There are reasons for everything, no?" She said with a cryptic smile as she turned to greet the Crows.

He looked at Allen who, as confused as he was, merely shrugged. He supposed she must've had her own reasoning, but oh well. He supposed she'd tell them when she felt the necessity. She always did things with proper reasons, as such; he didn't think it'd be necessary to dig into her private matters all that much.

"Rei," He called once she had finished her chit-chat and stood beside him, waiting for the time the Gate would be opened. She turned to him with a curious expression as she regarded him with a smile.

"Yes?"

"I know this might sound really random, but I'm glad we're on the same mission." He spoked, and soon felt a heat rise up in his cheeks. Why did he just fucking say that?"

She was silenced for a few seconds before a pained smile spread across her face. "I'd be lying if I told you I didn't feel the same way. Let us come back to the Order together, Kanda-san."

"Mm." He nodded at her words.

"You two lovebirds over there," Allen called, and he felt veins popped up on his forehead. He was about to step up ahead beat the shit out of Allen, but Rei's cold smile made him stop dead.

"What did you call us just now, Allen?" She said almost too sweetly, the corner of her smile twitched in irritation.

Allen gulped. "Um, sorry. I mean you two – it's time to get moving."

"Ah, I see." She nodded and turned to look at him. "Let's move, shall we?"

"Let's." He echoed curtly, picking up his belongings and followed the others through the blaring white gate.

Somehow, he could feel something _brewing_ in the dark.

And he didn't like this feeling. Not in the least.

* * *

 ** _Well there're bunches of "_** ** _impending doom" feeling here eh XD Anywho, I hope you had enjoyed it!_**

 ** _Hopefully next chap will be out in a span of next month, I'll try my best to at least upload once a month, I promise! D: PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME_**

 ** _...well, next is Alma Arc, so hopefully there will be tons of pain and suffering and mysteries XD You'll have to wait and see where Rei will fits!_**

 ** _Please review, and see you in a month (or less!) :D Cheers!_**


	18. Chapter 18

**_Howdy! I'm late... again. Gah! So sorry D:_**

 ** _Anyways, this is the start of Alma Arc... things are gonna change a lot. Expected some shitty moments because, you know, Alma Arc and all. Elsewise, please do enjoy the show and tell me what you think!_**

 ** _Read and Review at your leisure!_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter Eighteen: The Party begins_**

Jordan was stupidly hot.

And the Akumas were stupidly eager for a fight.

They took eight-hour shifts each keeping watch and fighting, he taking the morning, Allen the noon, and Rei the night. Even with sixteen hours in between each shift, the fights remained tiresome and a burden to the body. And to Rei, who had been talking about plans to Komui and few others over the intercom almost all day long, they need more down time in between each skirmish.

He sat, crossed-legs, perched on the stone that overlooked the sandy pass that lead to the main camp with the female Third Exorcist by his side. The talismans had been very helpful, slowing the Akumas down and acted as some sort of Alarm, so he didn't have to run laps around the camp looking for attackers. He looked at the edge of the sky and saw the shadows of those accursed bastards closing in. It wouldn't be too long before he had to fight again.

He heard footsteps behind him, and when he turned around, he saw Rei walking over with a few papers, a map and a transmitter in hand. He nodded at her before returning his gaze to the horizon. "You should be sleeping." He said.

"Sleep eludes me tonight." She said tiredly. "May I sit?"

"Of course." He replied, scooting slightly to make a room for her. She settled down beside him, eyes not leaving the map, now riddled with markers of various colors. "Just like the nights at the Order."

She looked up instantly. "You noticed?"

"I _am_ next door, in case you haven't notice." He snorted, unsheathing his blade and began polishing it absently, his fingers running along the sharp edge. He could feel her unease at his words, so he coughed and spoke. "Don't worry, I haven't told a soul."

Her anxiety disappeared somewhat as she sighed, her eyes – dark and tired and _slightly broken_ – returned to the map. It seemed like she was recording the attacks and helped planning their next moves. His gaze lingered on her for but a few more moments before he returned to his task.

After a while, though, he felt the urge to ask. "Rei."

"Hmm?"

"What are those nightmares about?"

Her silence betrayed none of her anxiety, her fear… those nightmares of hers, whatever they were about, had been affecting her for far too long. He had been hearing her cries and screams for months, so he had a faint idea. But this time, he _wanted_ to help, to make it better… and before he could do that, he had to understand; first, what she was seeing, hearing, _feeling_.

He waited, and waited, but no answer came. Only sounds of the wind and his hand on the blade filled the thick, crushing air between them. He regretted his choice instantly and gritted his teeth. He shouldn't have asked. She would have come forward and told him – or anyone else – when she was ready –…

Before he could take back his words, she whispered, almost too quietly for him to hear through the blowing wind of Jordan. "About the things I did… and the thing that I am."

He lifted his head up to look at Rei, now looking back at him with such pained eyes, wrought with unspeakable burden and guilt. He put down his sword and turned slightly so he could look at her better. Her shoulders were slumped, her hands trembling slightly, her smile wavering. Her gaze lingered on his face for a moment before she looked elsewhere. He opened his mouth, about to ask for her to clarify, but thought better of it and slammed it shut.

To his surprise, she continued. "I've done a lot of terrible things. Killing. Making people suffer. For the war, and for myself." She smiled sadly as she looked at her hands as if they were soaked in blood, and he gingerly reached out, his fingers brushing hers. She instantly drew them back, looking up at him in surprise.

He blinked before pulling back his hand as well, mumbling. "Sorry."

"It's okay." She murmured. "I've done things… and haunted by deeds both real and imagined." She quieted down, pursing her lips slightly before inhaling sharply and forcing out a smile – a smile that he loathed so, _so much_. "But I'll be okay, I supposed… these, too, will pass when I…"

She clapped a hand over her mouth, stopping herself from elaborating. He glanced up at her questioningly, but she refused to answer. He contemplated whether to ask her for clarification or no, and later thought better of it. If she wants, she'll come forth with it. So, to acknowledge her cryptic answers, he nodded and went back to cleaning his blade, albeit distractedly.

Seeing him pursuing the matter no further, she bowed her head and went back to marking her maps. The woman Third Exorcist, who he assumed saw their little exchanges from the sideline, coughed and went back to her station. He scoffed but said nothing.

After what seemed like eternity, she folded the map and scooted a bit closer to him, leaving enough space so they won't touch each other. He raised an eyebrow at her. "What's this?"

"Nothing." She said shyly – it was so unlike her he could laugh. She fidgeted uncomfortably. "You know, what I said back at the Order –"

"I'd be fine if you don't want to talk about it, really." He cut her off, amused by her reactions. She must've been quite rattled by _her own_ words, Kanda mused to himself. When she didn't stop fidgeting and blushed slightly, he said with a rather amused tone. "It's fine, Rei. I am not cruel enough to ask you when you're blushing."

"Blus – _I'm not!_ " She half-squealed, and as soon as she realized that, she had to clapped both hands over her mouth, calmed her nerves down with controlled breathing, before she half-berated him while hitting his shoulder. "Stop that, Kanda-san! It's not funny!"

"Ow!" He yelped, rubbing his shoulder. For a woman, she sure hit hard. "What? I was just speaking the truth!"

She pouted.

He had to resist the urge to laugh.

After that, they engaged in a rather light banter, where he tried his best to tease the shit out of her and her to discourage him from doing so. He could see the Third scooting away from them more and more, and he snorted slightly at that. She then turned her attention to something he found rather… strange.

"Kanda-san, do you think we'll ever win this war?"

He stopped dead, looking at her in surprise. "What's with the suddenness?"

"…I felt something crawling under my skin. A sixth sense, if you will." She admitted quietly, her eyes looking around, wary of the nonexistent prying eyes and eavesdropping ears. "I… I don't know if this war will be won in our lifetime, if at all."

"That's rather pessimistic, and you're talking to a pessimist here," He said. "I know it looks grim. But eh, I think we'll win. When? That's up for debate."

"Mm." She murmured with a smile. "I hope you'll all live to see the end of it."

" _You?_ " He questioned. Instead of _we_ , she elected to use _you_ … "Why aren't you using _we?_ "

"Because I know for a fact that I'll die before that time comes."

She said those words so _evenly_ , so… casually, as if she'd been preparing for that exact thing to happen for a long time. At first he thought she was joking, but the longer the following silence, the clearer it became that she meant every word she said.

And he was pissed.

He found himself grabbing both her arms almost too tightly, and she looked up at him in shock as he glared her down.

"How the fuck could you say that so casually?!" He half-bellowed, his grip firm like vice. "How the – you don't go make people care and just say something like that, Rei!"

She said nothing, only offering him the faintest of smile.

"I should go back to rest. See you at my shift's end, Kanda-san."

She pried herself off him and, without another word, went back to the tent.

* * *

" _The wind's blowing wrong, and I don't like it."_

Rei said through the golem while Lavi sat down in his shared camp, his gramps out to treat the wounded. Because Marie is presented in his encampment, they had to speak in their shared language – Japanese.

Don't even get him to tell _why_ he learned that. He just did.

"After what you showed me, Rei-chan, I think I will believe just about any bad vibe you have." He said half-jokingly as he sipped his tea, still warm. His one eye darted to the map she had instructed him to write down. It didn't look all that good, truth be told, and he was half-glad that at _least_ the Noah hadn't showed up. Yet, anyway.

" _Very funny,_ " She said flatly. He could hear the sandstorms through the rugged communicator, which indicated just how bad Jordan was. She heaved a sigh before she continued. _"Their attacks are too unfocused. I still can't figure out their real goal. Until then, stay sharp."_

"I understand." Lavi muttered. "I also heard that the North America Branch is holding a meeting about Alma Karma. Could that be what they're after?"

 _"_ _A possibility,"_ She concurred, sounding thoughtful. " _But one of many. They might as well attack the Order itself, or hunting after Allen. But whatever they will do, we will be ready."_

"Don't be too rash." He chided, getting serious. He _knows_ what she _is_ , what thing she hides, and he knows what risk she's taking when doing things like fighting and… more. "You know the _Owl_ could be there at any moment."

 _"_ _I will be ready,_ " She said. _"Speaking of the Owls – the disappearance, or rather the discontinuation of her taking control of the Scheiterns and the appearance of the thing that resembles her… the Artificial Owls… are unnerving."_

 _Scheitern_ – failure in German – is the term she used to call the Earl's failed attempts in recreating the Owl from a part of its flesh. Why he would do such a thing eludes them, but he is serious about it. The New Models – the Akumas that seem to be the bridge between the Artificial Owl and the Level Four – too, had somewhat dwindled in number. But that upside is weighted down by this successful experiment to create the Artificial Owls.

Because those things are goddamn powerful, and have a regenerative power like a fucking planarian, adding to their heighten intelligence and Allen's inability to recognize it.

These things are too dangerous, and they must be careful how they move.

"I agree," He said, going through his notes comparing various things from his night searches. "But if only a small piece of the Owl was enough to help the Earl recreates such things, then we cannot allow it to be captured or killed."

 _"_ _It's a three-way battle, for certain._ " She said.

"Mm. As if it wasn't complicated enough already." He muttered in annoyance. His eye flicker to the entrance of the tent, just to be certain there will be no one eavesdropping them. "Enough of that. We'll compare notes and figure this out after this mission."

 _"_ _I agree,"_ She said. _"We're encountering a disproportionate numbers of Akumas around here. We're encamped in the middle of a dessert; why would the Earl sent battalions after us?"_

"Hmm, our camp has something going on in the woods, too, but not too many foes to talk about." He muttered. "Well, I'll stay vigilant in case things go a bit, mm, _haywire_."

 _"_ _Take care, Lavi."_ She urged. _"I have to take my post now. Contact you later."_

"Good luck, Rei. You're gonna need it."

Once the line was cut, he leant back into his cot, sighing as his brows scrunched together. None of these made much senses, and the more he knew, the more questions pop up.

Well, he supposed he could wait until this _distraction_ is over with.

* * *

Edgar and Twi _know_ for a fact that Alma was alive, and they also know he was being used as a "womb" for the Thirds.

That's why they're here, right now. Just because their guilt compelled them to see Alma, in his battered and broken state, to remind themselves of the mistakes that should've never been repeated. Of course, Renee was too, well, _prideful_ , too absorbed in _winning the war_ , she had forgotten about the prize they all had once paid.

And here they were, standing before Alma, broken in both body and soul. He looked remorsefully at the once cheerful kid and then glanced at Twi, who silently grabbed his hand and squeezed, just enough for him to know that she was there, and was feeling the same thing he did. He returned the gesture and paid a part of his attention to the conversation Lvellie was saying.

 _Zealous, single-minded, uncaring. The righteous traits for a commander of this_ _ **holy**_ _army, but not for a human._

They seemed to have lost their humanity somewhere, now only caring for the victory. He wasn't sure if it's worth it, doing this much to win the war. But from strategic viewpoint, they were desperate… desperate enough to create one monster to fight another monster, perhaps.

 _Brilliant idea_ , they said this was… his family had to disagree. What destruction and what tragedy this thing had wrought, those involved nine years ago should know quite well. He only smiled grimly, remembering all those times. Had it not been for that mysterious man in demonic armor, he and Twi would have stayed and paid for their sins, too. But the man convinced them otherwise; advised them to stop this from ever happening again.

What a failure.

Renee were explaining the basics of this _Third Exorcist Project_ and handing out related documents to the scientists – those who had taken part in this madness, both willing and unwilling. He could see the eagerness in some's eyes, while fear not unlike his own was reflected from the others. He pitied both groups – they do not know the things that they were getting themselves into. And now, they too, will sin as he and Twi had.

"Edgar," His wife called, and he turned to see her pointing at Bak and Master Zhu who were talking and trying to gain entry. He nodded silently and sidled away to them.

"Dad!" Bak exclaimed as he got close.

He smiled at him before crouching down to Master Zhu, who gave him a hug. He did so in return. "You made it here, Master Zhu."

"So the madness continues?" Zhu asked, his voice tremble as rage, pain and regret all consumed him. He couldn't look at the old man in the eye, knowing that he too was a part of the reason why they were so eager to continue. He looked up, at last, to see those sunken eyes, devoid of hope, staring back. "They decided to pursue this path still?"

"They do, sir." He murmured, standing up straight. "I'm sorry –"

"You're not the one at fault, don't apologize." He cut Edgar off with a wave of his wrinkled hand and walked forward. "And Malcolm…"

"He seems quite eager." Was his only reply.

The old man's eyes shone in all the wrong ways, and he merely stood there, listen to Renee explaining how they _use_ Alma as a base. His eyes followed the old master's gaze which landed on the pool of clear water where their past sin resided.

"The Red Ones that saved the two of you would be after my head when they see this." He mused quietly, clasping hands behind his back.

"Well, there's that, too." He laughed quietly, his eyes matching none of his thoughts. "Do you want to see him, Master Zhu?"

With a solemn nod, the old man led them to the pool, to see an old friend once more.

* * *

Allen, who had ventured out alone to rescue survivors, were surrounded. As such, two of the Thirds were sent to his aid.

But instead of that drawing out the fire from the camp, it only increased the tension in the surrounding areas. Rei, awoken from her restless sleep, had to help them defend the breaking camp.

The blinding light from Narukami erupted from behind him and disintegrated an Akuma down in an instant. She didn't linger to appreciate her work as her feet quickly carried her to another target. The Third and Link worked their damn hardest to keep the lower-leveled ones out by binding them up while he continued chopping at them with reckless abandon.

Blood soaked the soil, smell of corruption tainted the air, and his lungs were screaming and constricting as the toxic clouds keep popping up here and there, everywhere around him. Flashes of fire and lightning keep him posted that Rei is alive in there somewhere, reassuring him a little. As Mugen continued to hack and tore these sizable chunks of metals and souls, his eyes caught a glimpse of a man in white, skin grey and eyes gold. He whipped around to look, but there were too many Akumas –

 _Shit, I have to destroy these bastards first_.

And so he did, one by one, slicing them, spltting their skulls in half. His slight lapse of concentration almost costed him dearly, but a quick golden spark from Rei disintegrated whatever thing abominable ambushing him into oblivion. He thanked her silently as he continued to fight, eyes pried for the Noah's possible intrutions…

 _Why isn't that bastard intervening?_

His question was left unanswered until the last of the attacking Akumas were returned to the earth. He panted, his exhausting from days-long shifts and sleepless nights catching up to him. He wiped his brows and glanced up at the Noah, and he saw two of the while-things, looking like the "Artificial Owl", as Rei had dubbed it, they met weeks ago. Those things were strong, and there were two of them. Their situations looked grim.

Rei joined him in seconds with IXA – five rings with shape-shifting strips about them – and Narukami tightly in hands, here mask dented and her eyes fierce as she stared at the things. The Noah stood on one of their back, sitting crossed-legs, the third eye looking straight at him while his main one looked at Rei with puzzlement. His stripped bandana was draped on the Artificial Owl's shoulder, blowing slightly in the wind of the desert.

"You… I don't know you." He murmured as Rei stepped slightly forward, only to be discouraged by one of the Owls, baring its hollowed mouth and blades at her. "And I can't _read_ you very well, either."

"You are not welcome here, Noah." She stated flatly, Narukami cackling with lightning. The Noah looked on a moment longer before he shifted his gaze to Kanda, Mugen raised.

"Well, to be frank, we are not welcome anywhere." He said simply with a shrug and shifted to look at Rei again. "You know, lady, you are quite intriguing for someone supposedly new to the Order… Now that I think about it, that mask -…"

"You were not under my radar before." She snarled. "You must be newly awakened, aren't you?"

"Clever," He said with a slight smile. "An information broker, a doctor, and that mask, those eyes… _The Beast of Nevada_ , I reckoned."

Beast of Nevada? What was that?

She seemed surprised, hearing that title, but her eyes then glinted with a sly smile as she bowed her head ever so slightly, her combat stance unchanging. The Noah stiffened slightly, and the two white-things glowered at her.

"It's been so long since I was last called by that." She stated, curling her fingers. Fire alighted on IXA's intangible strips as she commanded them to wave and curl like serpents, ready to strike.

"From what I've heard, you're quite troublesome." The Noah noted, and one of the Artificial Owl suddenly attacked her, its heavy arm down into the coiling strips of IXA, stopping it just enough, the edge half an inch from her face.

And that distraction was enough for the Noah to make a move.

Suddenly, a serpentine grin slithered upon the Noah's face. He felt a strange sensation in the pit of his stomach, and his grip tightened even more. But his hand slackened as the Noah uttered; "Alma; does that name ring a bell?"

What? Alma?

How could he…?

From the corner of his eyes, one of the Artificial Owl rushed at Rei and sent her flying, disappearing into the sand. His cry of worry was cut short when the Noah did _something –_

He felt severe pain, like a clap of thunder ringing in his head.

And everything went black.

* * *

Allen knew they were fucked the moment Tyki and two other Noah joined in.

He couldn't reach their base, Tokusa was badly hurt, and they were running out of places to flee.

The comms were down; he had no way of contacting anyone at the base; Rei, Kanda, Link, no one. They were cut off completely, and it was only a matter of time before their hiding place is exposed.

He shook his head, ridding himself all the thoughts as he set Tokusa down against the wall of their cave, Madarao standing close by, watching for any incoming enemies. His eyes didn't twinge once since their escape, so it was only fair to think that the Noahs had either decided to hunt them down on their own or to summon their own Ark.

Both alternatives were severe. They were in a bind.

"Don't touch!" Tokusa snarled and used his stump to hit his hand away from examining the wound. He opened his mouth in an attempt to respond, but the man snarled. "Dammit… running away when Noah was right in front of me… I can't allow this… _Shit!_ "

"Tokusa, you need to be treated first!" He tried to reason. "We must head back to the camp –"

"Shut up!" He yelled back, not caring for any eavesdropping ears or prying eyes that may or may not be there. "I'm not going back there!"

"But at this rate, you'll die!"

"Let him be." Madarao cut him off, not even turning around to look. He looked at him in puzzlement as he continued, his voice remained calm, his posture unwavering. "His wounds have already closed."

He turned to the injured Crow to see that indeed, they had – the arms turned into aged-old stump, the veins popping, and there were something like smoke surrounding the now non-existing wounds. He gaped in amazement – had the Third's body modification allowed them to regenerate to this extend?

"Amazing…" He murmured, the regenerative abilities reminded him of a certain comrade. "You have the same skill as Kanda."

"Skill, you said?" He said, his voice clearly laced with mockery intending for himself. The man smiled grimly and laid his head back against the wall of the cave, laughing. "Hah, that's right… that man was Alma Karma's…"

Alma? Who was that?

"I can only close wounds… I wish I had a skill like the Second has…"

This was the face of a man revering a superior being.

What is the "Second"?

Before he could voice his inquiry, Tokusa signaled his comrade with a few hushed whispers, and the man walked over to them, his left devouring arm activated and pulsated with the darkness he was too well acquainted with. He watched the man carefully as Tokusa muttered. "Swear that you'll survive and become the Womb."

"Yeah." The man grunted before kneeling down and placing his devouring machine on Tokusa's chest.

His intention became clear, so Allen stepped forth and knocked his arm aside with his own Innocence-embedded one. "What are you doing!? He's –"

Madarao was cold as he confirmed his suspicion. "That' right. I'm going to absorb him."

"But why…?"

"Could you not get involved, Apostle?" The injured Crow said with a cryptic smile, his face scrunched up in disdain and discontent at his intervention. He didn't understand this. What will devouring a fellow Third do?

"Why!?"

And so the man explained to him the origins of the Third Exorcist Project, as well as Alma Karma's involvement.

As more and more words came out, his face grew paler and paler, his hands clammy and his heart beating wrong and painfully in his chest. The Black Order, the place he thought refuge to humans, holy and unwavering in its resolve to remain human… how could they've done this? How could they've concocted this… _abominable project?_

"You who were chosen by Innocence and effortlessly became an Apostle won't understand us…" He snarled, his breaths harsh as he forced each words out in an attempt to make Allen understand. More and more of his will, his resolves, his goals, were laid bare. "We too, would like to save this world. So don't get in our way! Now, my last wish is to be absorbed and become a part of Madarao! I'd never accepted being killed by Noahs like this!"

Before he could respond, however, a hand appeared from the wall, catching Tokusa's face and craned his neck back. "Don't worry, we're not the ones who'll be your executioner."

He moved to activate, but another Noah with sunglasses kicked him square in the stomach and sent him flying. His eyes caught a glimpse of Tyki assaulting Madarao through the chest.

He quickly activated as soon as his body landed on the ground, the white cloak of Crown Clown fluttered behind him.

"Yo, boy." Tyki called and switched place with the larger Noah while the other man engaged the injured Madarao, pushing him out of Allen's line of sight.

Ignoring the mocking grin and the fear in the pit of his stomach, Allen focused on Tyki and his peers, brandishing his claws in order to get his left arm used to the upcoming fight. His left eye scoured the surrounding, and much to his discontent, there were too many Akuma to actually count.

"What? No words of greetings for me?" The tall man mocked, opening his arms with a flourish as he took a step forward. The younger male instinctively fell back half a step, body bent to lower his center of gravity. He could no longer see Tokusa or Madarao, who were not clouded by the dust conjured from the explosions and missed attacks around them. Tyki seemed to have caught him worrying about them, and he smiled. "Oh, you want to make sure they're safe, aren't you boy?"

"What are you planning to do?" He snarled, his claws ready. Tyki remained calm despite the seething rage from him. He must be planning on getting his temper flaring up and attacking him when he was least aware of the surroundings.

"Well," Tyki began, tapping his chin, genuinely thinking of how to answer his question. That somehow angered Allen even more. "First of, we're planning on throwing a big _welcoming party_."

"Welcoming party?" He repeated. "For who?"

"You'll see, boy. In the meantime… let's dance."

Purple light filled his vision and soon, the red of battle.

* * *

"So it's begun."

Aiden stated as his eyes fixated on the monitors, blaring with alarms. The heart rates, the blood pressure, everything had already went off the charts. He knew this was coming, they knew, and they were prepared. But even then, the very thought of going into battle with _that_ in mind was not too pleasant.

"So it has." Galahad said from his seat, a coin spun on his knuckles back and forth lazily. He sat, crossed legs, a black bagpack beside his body, his eyes, dim green, stared at the monitors and the screens from various golems. "I must admit, though, that the amount of surveillance these scientists could make within a few months' span had exceeded my imagination."

"Well, they were backed by the Pope." Maria called, her hair braided neatly and thrown over one shoulder. She switched out from the binge finder's uniform into red-black jumpsuit that hugged her body tightly, a scarf rested by her neck. "And said Pope has more connections than a religious leader should have. Not that I mind, of course."

"Shut it, you two." He turned and chided them only lightly, not because their banters were annoying, but rather because of another person presented in the room. That person had stood quietly by his desk, arms crossed and eyes hidden behind the round glasses. His light brown curls brightened by the lights from the screens. Once their voices quieted down, he regarded the man with a slight bow of his head. "Sir."

"It's as predicted, the flow of battle is favoring them more than it should." He summarized. "Did Rei tell you how to procede?"

"Only on the basis. We'll improvise the details ourselves." He responded, and the other two nodded in unison. "We've done this kind of thing before, although without your assistance, we wouldn't have been this prepared."

"You flatter me." He said flatly and straightened himself, taking off his glasses to review the bright green eyes unlike that of a man. They glittered and shone like crystals in the midst of the depths. "Now, what will she do?"

"She'll do what she does best. Intercepting them." He said. "Let's hope that she survived to the end of this… _skirmish_."

"Aiden." Galahad addressed him in a serious tone. "You spoke as if she's weak. As far as I'm aware, she's the stronger out there."

He tapped his head, and that was enough for Galahad to get the hidden massage. The older man sighed, nodded and stood up, grabbing his bag.

"Will you be alright with this?" The man asked as he stepped fully into the light, revealing the golden rosary and the attire that belonged to the Pope's highest-ranking aide, Cardinal.

"We will be. Always have." He assured the man. "Now… where do we start?"

And now… the curtain had been raised.

 _We have returned._

* * *

 ** _Andddd there! The next chapter I will point out only some of the original Alma Arc's parts, then others will be the integration of my own... expects shits, again. And sorry for the delay, I'll try not to do it too often XD_**

 ** _Cheer! See you later, sirs and Ma'ams!_**


	19. Chapter 19

**_Hi! Sorry, life happens and I just got out of the most fucky part of it all. Belated happy new year to y'all!_**

 ** _WARNING: After this there's gonna be lots and lots of Tokyo Ghoul's stolen content. I warned you like ten ish chapters ago but, you know, in case you forgot XD If you still like it please do continue to read though! Your support is always appreciated!_**

 ** _WARNING 2: Fuckery ahead, shits ahead, TYPOS ahead... whatever... ALMA ARC! Enjoy duh!_**

* * *

 ** _Chapter Nineteen: The One-Eyed Owl_**

The first thing he saw after he opened his eyes was the mutilated body of the one he had once held dear.

 _Alma…?_

His thoughts were scattered, unfocused, his head pounding like something was jackhammering it from inside out, but he could never not notice that face, those eyes, these feelings that boiled and stirred inside him.

He sat up, dazed, his hand going to the glass and touched it lightly, his eyes regaining their sight. The images became clearer, and now Alma is fused with this… _thing_ , this abomination, twisted and unholy. He could feel intense hatred that rose up inside – he knew that Central ordered this. He knew they did. And no one stopped it.

Or perhaps they were just too powerless to stop the force of the Pope.

He was deaf to any other voices – and there were quite a few – and he couldn't have cared less in that moment, even though he had to. His eyes squinted as he tried to focus his thoughts, finally acknowledging the fact that whatever the fuck happened, it must've been _bad_ , and he had to get a hold of the situation quickly. That damn bandana-headed bastard's doing didn't help at all – he assumed that guys must've somehow _squashed_ his brain.

That's why it's taking him so long to make sense of the world.

He heard the Beansprout's voice calling his name, but it sounded so distance, like he was submerged in water. His movements remained sluggish as his eyes slowly shifted around to take in his surroundings.

North American Branch's room, filled with Noahs and Akumas with the Earl at the center. The scientists, the supervisors, Lvellie – all stood rigid as if they were crucified to invisible crosses. The Beansprout was there, sitting with blood-stained lips, the armless Crow now too far from him with the Earl being a little too close.

His eyes darted for his sword, and momentarily rid himself of the thoughts of Alma, he snatched his blade, the doll thing on the five-eye bastard, and dashed for the Earl, whose back was turned on him.

Sound of steel meeting hardened flesh of the Noah rang throughout the Branch; the impact slightly numbed his hand and impeded the sharpened edge of his blade from meeting its mark. He clicked his tongue, drawing his sword back and dashed away to join Allen who was now carrying the crippled Crow in his arms.

"Kanda, you were able to move!?" Allen asked him as he skidded on the floor, coming to a halt right beside him. He continued his stride and moved to the nearest exit he had spied earlier.

With a scowl at the Beansprout's untimely question, he sneered. "You've got a problem with that?"

That ticked the boy right. He might not have meant it, but that was the words that rolled out of his mouth even before he knew he was responding. Inwardly, he shrugged, while he outwardly maintained a disdainful, prideful look he had always wore.

"Not really," Allen answered with veins popping up on his forehead. He carried that Crow right by him as he ran with Kanda, side by side. "But it really vexes me that you were _immobile_ the whole time."

Disregarding the sarcastic tone this time, he reasoned. "I woke up here after I got fucked in the head, so it took me a while to grasp the situation."

Allen nodded, his face turned solemn as he ran faster, his whole body straining as he sprinted. Kanda followed suit, snatching the ribbon on that doll which, much to his surprise, started yelling. " _Ahhh!_ What are you doing, you _pervert!_ "

"Shut the fuck up!" He snapped as he pulled the tie free from her body. "Your fucking brother broke my hair tie so I'm using yours!"

"You captured her for _that_!?" Allen cried in disbelief. He disregarded the man as he tied his long hair into the ponytail.

The Crow groaned from the side and murmured. "We need to retreat and recover quickly!"

As soon as that sentence finished, steel pipes carpeting under the lab sprung forth like snakes, alive and abiding someone's command. They twisted and struck like cobra, their numbers great and their speed greater as the pipes lunged for the exit and plugged it close by _someone_ 's will. He snarled under his breath and turned quickly to face their enemies – _the Noahs_.

One of them was waving his hand, fingers twisting as if he was controlling some kind of _strings_ , like a master puppeteer commanding marionettes at his own will. He glanced over his shoulder once – their only way out is gone.

The ducts and tubes dug under tangles of their own bodies and, after but a fraction of second, sprung back up with Alma's mutilated body in their grasps, his body limp, motionless, _barely alive_.

"You lowly creature," One of the Noah, probably who controlled the ducts, spoke with an eerie grin. "Do you understand the situation you're in, especially you, Fourteenth? Did you not hear us say that we'd _never_ let you return to your Order?"

Well shit.

His muscles tensed, his hand closed tighter around Mugen as he assessed their situation. It looked _really_ dire, not to mention that the Earl seemed to be planning to _use_ Alma for… _something_.

"Allen Walker!" The Earl called, and he could see the Beansprout tensed and frowned from the corner of his eyes. "We shall make it so that you abandon the Order yourself! So, today, we hold a party in celebration of your expulsion!"

He vaguely heard Allen asked the Crow about Alma, hanging atop the pipes, broken and chained to this world. He sneered at the mention of his involvement with Alma from the Crow, and upon a quizzical look from Allen, he snorted.

"Who the fuck's that?"

The whole room fell silent.

"…What did you just say?" He Earl asked, so he feigned ignorance – he did not _want_ to be associated with Alma in public like this. And he had sincerely hoped that they will just thought he had forgotten about him and let him get on with the war or whatever.

"Who the fuck's that?"

They brought Alma to his eye level and pointed at him, so he sighed and repeated himself again.

"I asked you who that is, assholes."

He could feel their surprises, their disbeliefs as he denied the knowledge he had on the very existence of the once-friend of his, Alma Karma. His eyes didn't left the body as he tensed, his ears catching only a few murmurs from all sides, expressing their opinion on the absurdity of the current situation.

The doll on his shoulder wailed at him, waving its tiny hand to gain his attention as it spoke; "What're you saying!? It's Alma! The _failure_ that you killed nine years ago—"

He will _not_ have any of that.

In a single movement, he had the doll's head in his hand, his eyes glaring at it as though he could set fire on its fabric with but a simple gaze. The very word _"failure"_ this _thing_ used to call Alma is _unforgiveable_ , not to mention that he saw to it himself that he was _dead_ when he hacked his body into pieces.

Through gritted teeth, he growled, "He. Is. Dead."

Silence prevailed for but a moment before the doll talked again. "But he survived…"

After that, the doll's words became blurred as his thoughts are submerged in swarms of emotions he cared little to name at the moment. The longer this thing rant, the angrier he became, and when all the rage bottled up inside him filled his existence to the brim, he crushed the doll's head and casted it to the cold, stone floor.

It continued rambling, and he would have none of that. In once fluid motion, he drew his blade and aimed for its smashed head -

\- only for the Beansprout to grab his sword and stopped it just short of its body.

"Kanda! Don't let her play with your head!" The younger urged, his eyes looking at him. He didn't look up from the damn miscreant, whose head was regenerating, and tried to break from Allen's hold with brute force alone.

Any more exchanges, any more words, were drown out by his anger, his... _fear_ , perhaps. He was afraid - of the truth, of everything concerning Alma, and it manifested as anger. Anger that came from his powerlessness to convince Alma otherwise at that time, the powerlessness against the higher ups who brought them all pain and suffering -

His thoughts were disrupted, however, when an image of an eye glowed on the floor. It burned into his eyes, his mind, his very soul...

...And his consciousness slipped away, being dragged off into the long-forgotten memorys from nine years ago.

* * *

They were the first of the "Artificial Owls", as they were called.

An outcast, a dishonored bastard, and an outdoned information broker. Those are what they were - now, they're more powerful than anything, and with this power they could rule the world if they so desired.

And yet, one of them was killed by this woman befor them.

Erin Krueger and Cullen Noels - these are their names. And because of these names they will avenge their fallen.

"Cullen!" His partner called as her dismorphic arm struck the exorcist where she was, lying injured on the ground. But she had enough strength to grab the blade with her left hand, equipped with the damnable Innocence, and stopped herself from being flattened. "Kill this bitch, why don't you?"

"Aye!" He echoed and lunged at her. She shoot the lightning from the golden blade and hit his right eye, causing it to explode into oblivion. But with this power he held, he regenerated, grinning under the disfigured mask as it cracked before opening his mouth and clamped down on her arm.

The woman screamed in pain, wedging the gold sword in between his teeth to keep herself from losing a limb. With her attention divided, Erin's blade cut managed to reach her shoulder and dug in, causing blood to leak from it. The exorcist gritted her teeth and let out a sharp yell as she pushed the blade-arm off her flesh.

"You can't fight _two_ of us at once!" He mocked, biting harder, eliciting a yelp from her. He could taste blood in his mouth, and it is _oh, so sweet_. "You killed one of us. Now you die for it!"

"Not if I can help it!" She snarled defiantly, her fingers crushing the blade-arm tighter before she growled. "IXA, _combust!_ "

With a flash, Erin's arm exploded, and she staggered back in surprise rather than pain. With but a moment, her flesh regenerated fully, and she resumed her assault.

"You _bitch!_ " She roared and put all her weight behind the blade, letting the edge sunk deep into the woman's now burnt arm. "You blow your own hand away without realizing it is _futile!_ We are not idiots like the one you killed - we know how to use this _blessing_ properly!"

Something crossed the woman's eyes. "Blessing...? You called your _existence_ a blessing?"

"Of course!" He said, biting her impossibly harder. This time, however, she did not make a sound, and he was mildly surprised by it. Shaking the sinking feeling in the pit of his being off, he continued. "With this kind of power, this kind of body, who wouldn't call it a blessing?"

In an instant, his lower mouth disappeared, and it took him moments before he even felt the pain.

He reared back screaming, his jaws hung ajared. He growled at her as he regenerated his flesh and snapped it back in place. When he looked up again, he saw that Erin had also been pushed back somehow, her left half utterly destroyed by some _thing_.

The woman exorcist got to her feet, both arm bloodied. She let her blood trickled down the blade of the gold sword, and the intangible strips of the black rings on her hand stopped in mid-air and pointed at them, like coiling serpents ready to strike.

Her eyes were fiercer than ever before, and the sword in her hand cackles with lightning - _red-tinted lightning_.

"You are all idiots." She stated, brandishing her blade and entered a stance unlike previously. She used the low stance, mostly for guarding purpose, before. Now she stood like a... _noble_ , looking down on them.

 _Looking down on them!_

"Why you insolent brat!" Erin snarled and lunged at the exorcist with even more ferocity than she did, aiming her three-claw hand at her throat.

The exorcist stepped back slightly, avoiding the attack by the skin of her teeth, and sooner than Erin could react, the black serpent-like coils _struck his partner in the chest_.

She cried and was sent flying a good distance backwards, rolling on the sand and stopped a few feet away from him, hacking up blood and bile. However, the wounds instantly sealed itself with smoking coming out of it. He looked at the exorcist in surprised as he went to stand beside his friend.

"Your reaction time seems much faster." He observed. Just a few moments before she could _barely_ dodge their combined assaults and now she just easily _sidestepped_ one of it.

"Is that so?" She inquired with no trace of emotions within her feature. She seemed to relax slightly as she pivoted one foot to face them. Her eyes turn dark and cold, and he felt a chill ran up and down his spine, like a prey staring into the eyes of the predator. Cullen took an unconscious step back.

"What are you?" That word left him without him even realizing it.

"The _Beast of Nevada_ is what I was known as." She said evenly. "Cullen Noels, I presume?"

He was reluctant, but knowing that she, too, is an information broker, he nodded his head as he helped Erin setting her limbs in place. "What is your name, exorcist?"

"You know me but you don't know who I am?" She said with a small laughter. "You fail as a proper information broker, then. Very well. My name is Akihiro Rei, at your service."

She bowed deeply, almost in mockery, as she relax fully from her fighting stance. Maybe it's because she knew _he_ would want to talk before resume fighting. Or maybe because she thought she could take them on...

He snorted at the last thought and shook it off before resuming. "Akihiro Rei, huh... let me tell you one thing; The Earl's goal will be completed tonight, and you are too far away to stop him."

"Hmph." She reacted minimally. "Before we resume fighting, might I ask you a question? Because, apparently, I might lose to you."

"We are no idiots." Erin interjected. "We do not give up intels needlessly."

"But," He continued from his partner's words, a bit amused. "I'll humor you. After all, if we died, then the Earl's goal is no longer of our concerns."

Erin looked like she wanted to strangle him, but then she relented and nodded. "Indeed. To make things interesting."

"He'll wake up Alma Karma tonight, and use that and Kanda Yuu's rage to wake up the Fourteenth."

"Why?" She asked, seeming more interested int he Fourteenth's name than anything else. Well, they had not been fighting with everything just yet, so they were pretty certain this woman will die by their hands. He'll humor her some more.

"Because the Earl wanted him by his side. As to _why_ after that, it eludes us, too. Well, any more _questions_ before we kill you, lady?"

She seemed to snort, but refrained herself from snarky remarks as she inquired, "And what will happen to Alma after that?"

"He's a failed vessel. Broken." Erin said, rising up and created two more blades from her back, making it four in total. And with that, this Akihiro lady might as well be dead. After all, they were given the power in the image of the One-Eyed Owl, the bastard that could even injured the Earl. If this exorcist before him cannot stand her ground against the Earl, then she will _at least_ have a hard time against them.

He continued from Erin's explanation; "He will end up dead all on his own, weather Kanda Yuu killed him or not."

"I see," She echoed, seemingly contemplating something. "Well then, last question,"

"Ask away."

"Do you know the Owl's real name?"

"Takatsuki Sen, but you already knew that, didn't you?" He said and snorted a small laughter. "Why waste your breath asking a question you already know an answer to?"

"...So, you still don't know. Very good."

What?

Her face indicated that the name he uttered, the name _she herself_ called that beast, was not correct. But then what? What does that mean? What was its name?

"Oh, don't worry, whether you survive or not, the name will matter little to you." She bowed once and entered her fighting stance again, pointing her blade at them in a threatening manner. "Let us resume, shall we?"

He still couldn't shake that feeling of dread away as he and Erin engaged in combat with the exorcist once more -

– not knowing that an even greater shadow is waiting and ready to loom over them, consuming their very souls.

* * *

Lavi broke his leg. _Again._

And goddamn does that hurt.

He limped back, Bookman unconscious on the dry land at the edge of the pond and Chaozii infected by some _thing_ , causing his whole body to shut down completely. He was convulsing and drooling, his eyes rolling about in panic.

The Noah grinned, his elongated and eyeballs-ridden tongue wriggling like a worm as his predatorous smile grew even wider. "Now, now, I will need to have _you_ and the old man come back with us."

He could barely lift his hammer, his left arm was numb and unable to move, his eye was hazy. He huffed and moved his leg as best as he could to ready himself for whatever the Noah's planning on throwing at him. He knew that was going to be futile in the end, but he couldn't just lie down and give up, can he now?

His thoughts shifted to Rei for a second, her _revelations_ and her secrets still clear in his mind. And then he was worried for her safety. If the Earl knew she had _that_ connection, _that_ knowledge, she'd be one of his prime targets, too. She might very well have been captured - like he's about to, ironically - at this point. And who knew what they might do –

He quickly stopped thinking and jumped to the side, ignoring the pain in his leg, avoiding a large acid-coated monstrous _tongue_ that emerged from his stomach.

Correction: a tongue that came out from the _large mouth on his stomach_.

The ground dissolved, and he paled at the mere thoughts of that... disgusting _thing_ touching him. He looked around - the finders had fled, Marie had remained to defend the camp. He was all alone here, and it's only a matter of time before he's forced to his knees and dragged away.

"You sure run quickly, for a man with a broken leg." The Noah stated, picking his nails and only half-mindedly striking at him. He scrambled, he dove, he rolled, desperately avoid getting more injured than he already was, like a dog drove into the corner. But unlike a dog, he had _no way_ of fighting back. Not with their power being so different.

"Stop talking!" He snapped and dove behind a large boulder. It's only take seconds for the Noah to dissolve this thing, thought.

"Nah, I don't think I will." The Noah said with a grin and a nonchalant shrug. He peaked out only for a strand of his hair to get dissolved by the tongue's acid coating. Lavi quickly pulled his head back into cover, which was shrinking at an alarming rate due to that god-damned _tongue._

 _To be done in by a fucking TONGUE! How unlucky do I have to be?_

He quickly ducked as the tongue wrapped around the boulder and disintegrated it in a matter of seconds. He scrambled away, exhausted and so out of options.

But then some _thing_ crashed down between him and the Noah, frightening the man back enough that his tongue was no longer an immediate threat. When the water that was splashed up rained down and the dust from the impact dispersed, there stood a man in dark red armor, covering him from head to toe. The eye slits glowed brightly red. Upon closer inspection, the armor itself was designed as if it was created from horizontal strips, sealed tightly with no opening.

The man turned to him, the mask's lower half opened like a mouth and letting out a puff of smoke as he spoke: "You alright there, lad?"

Shaking his puzzlement away, he stammered. "Um… y-yeah, I am… who-who are you?"

"A friend of Rei's."

That mention of her name alone was enough to buy his trust. After all, he had seen what _she had up her sleeves_. For her acquaintances to have the same kind of eccentric equipment is within expectations.

"Thanks, that saved my ass, alright." He said, trying to stagger up but fail miserably. "Ow!"

"I can stall the Noah for you, don't worry." He said as he pointed a giant drill-shaped polearm, red like his armor, at the Noah who seemed a bit more cautious when he was engaging Lavi and gramps. "Hey, you there! Who're you?"

"Who're _you_?" The Noah retorted, tongue flicking madly as he snarled.

"Your pain in the ass, I'd say." The stranger mocked and brandished his weapon with ease as if the size betrayed the weight. But the sound it made and the hole it caused when it landed on the ground was enough to tell him the thing is _damn heavy_.

Maybe this guy's an exorcist like him? That his weapon didn't weigh as heavy to him as it did others?

He shook his head and rid himself of the question, getting up on his feet. "Well, I guess we still have the Noah and all those shits to worry about, eh?"

"Not for long," The man said, his voice heavy and unreadable as he swung his weapon and slammed it on the ground hard, as if he was attempting to scare the Noah off. Not that it would succeed, but it did a pretty good job at startling him.

"What do you mean by that?"

"If our predictions and information are correct," He stated, his eyes dots of red light as they flickered towards him. "All hell will break loose and they'll be forced to retreat soon."

"I don't know why, but your whole-body language convinces me, alright." He said, staggering into fighting position. However, the man raised his hand to stop him and waved towards the camp.

"Go back and check on the other camps. If we're not too late, my peers should already be at those major settlements."

"Peers?"

"The Lady's servants."

Lady.

"Do you mean R—"

Before he could utter Rei's name fully, the man stopped him with a hush and nodded his head. "Yes. Now go. I can handle him just fine right now."

He spared the man a glance, assessed his fighting capabilities quickly, and chose to leave while sparing one last look before he headed for the encampment, dragging Bookman and Chaozii along with him.

 _If Rei's predicted this, then I suppose I should leave it to her, huh?_

* * *

The whole branch exploded into smithereens when Alma woke up.

And Allen was out cold for quite a time before he regained his senses.

Groaning, he propped himself up, his hand gripping his head. His visions were swarming with dots and white lights, his thoughts unfocused and only half-formed before they disintegrated. His eyes slowly adjusted itself to the crater that was once North America Branch, and quickly he panicked, remembering the Akuma virus that appeared on his skin –

 _No!_

He bolted up and gripped his head tighter as he was hit with a heavy wave of dizziness, his limps grew weak and he gasped. Then he caught the sight of _a person_ sitting before him with a circle of light right before them, as if shielding them from harm. When he regained his bearings fully…

"Tokusa!" He cried and steadied the man as he wobbled and threatened to fall over. The Crow bit harder on the talisman as its letter burned and the spell remained in effect. He felt guilt knotting in his stomach. It was his own weakness that put this man through it…

"Took you long enough to wake up." The man choked, sarcasm clear in his voice as he spat out the now useless paper and heaved.

"I-I'm sorry, Tokusa…" He murmured as he lowered the man gently to the ground, his hands hovering uselessly as he felt tears running down his cheeks. "If I was stronger, I –"

And he remembered that _everyone_ was there with them.

And with the virus being that strong and exploded with _that_ radius, everyone's…

His tears fell faster as he choked. "Everyone's… because I was weak…"

Suddenly, a knee connected to his head and he gripped it in pain as he looked up to see Tokusa had struck his temple with it.

Before he could ask why, Tokusa smiled angrily at him, his veins popping up as he said; "You're pissing me off! Don't be conceited, there's no such thing as a war where nobody dies."

He watched in shock as the man got up and continued.

"Besides, an apostle's power isn't for saving, it's for _destroying_ which we cannot. If you can't do that then you cannot save the world!"

There was anger in his voice, loud and clear like a thunder, and he was left speechless. Because he knew what Tokusa said was true. Each and every word, it was true, the very thing he so much wanted to deny. His power wasn't for saving, it's for destroying.

Still…

"Besides," The man's voice shook him from his mental wallowing and he looked up. "It might not be clear to you, but _protection_ is my line of work."

And then statics from the communicator invaded his ears.

 _Then Johnny's voice_.

"Johnny!?" He cried out in relieve and looked around. The smoke had started to clear, and there they were – _everyone_ was alright, protected by the spell-bound talismans of Tokusa and hidden underneath the rubble of the once North-America branch.

After confirming that they were alive, his eyes roamed the ruins once more to find Alma, who was probably an Akuma now. He shouldn't be hard to –

Tokua gasped, and he instantaneously looked at the man. "Tokusa?"

"I'm fine." The other said through gritted teeth, spitting old blood out of his mouth as he exhaled. Allen didn't think he was being honest there, but in this particularly dire situation, he elected not to bring it up and went to look for Alma and Kanda once more.

Then there they were, Kanda – recovering from the Akuma virus, like he always did – and Alma. The should-be-dead Alma Karma, the one of the two Second Exorcist, was speaking something, a pained, crazed smile plain on his face. It made him sick to the core, knowing that it shouldn't have been there. None of this shouldn't have happened.

Then there was light, dark and unforgiving, consuming his form. And Alma emerged from it a mere second later, fully transforming into an Akuma. Kanda closed his eyes and drew his blade, announcing his intention to _destroy him_.

 _You can't do that, Kanda!_

But, when he thought Alma had readied himself to fight, he relaxed – his posture suddenly calm, and a thin smile now graced his lips. He looked at the Second Exorcist in confusion and eyed the Earl and the other Noahs –

Who looked outright baffled.

Kanda too paused in his attempt to draw his weapon as Alma spoke. "So, you came. I never thought you'd actually appear, _old friend_."

A shadow descended, and landed in the midst of the battlefield like a cannonball, crushing the ground beneath it and sending smoke up into the air, blocking any and all visualization.

When the smoke clear, he could practically hear _everyone_ gasped in surprise and _fear_.

"You…" The Earl voiced, his tone a mixture of rage and _anxiety_ –

The smoke cleared, and stood in the middle was a large creature, its hide stark white like corroded bone, its body covered in tattered red cloak, hiding all but its three-clawed limbs. Coming out from its tattered garb were four blade-arm, mounted two each on its shoulders. It stood on two legs, its height easily doubled that of any man present, its face hard like a mask with a ridge splitting the middle. The left side of its face – its eye, he presumed – were replaced by three curved horizontal strips while its right eye was hollow like a black hole, filled with red light of a demon.

Looked alike, but unmistakably more demonic than the Artificial Owl.

Half hidden beneath a cowl, it raised its head, and spoke evenly, its voice heavily tinged with flinging effect, making even its gender undiscernible.

"Of course. I keep my promises, after all."

And the lower part of its mask split, letting out a haughty roar.

And Allen realized what the thing was.

 _This… is the One-Eyed Owl._

* * *

 ** _And that's it! Sorry it's shorter than usual, but I hope it does deliver. Leave your comment in the review away if you do inclined, and stay tuned! :D_**


	20. Chapter 20

_**Hey! I'm sorry I disappeared for so long, finals and all just glomped on me! But I've graduated!**_

 _ **...and that means less time writing as well ._.**_

 _ **Sorry for the lateness again! And on that note, this chapter might be really, really, really short and the end might be abrupt, but the Alma Arc, for me, had been planned to end like this anyways. I hope you enjoy! And please leave a comment on the way out!**_

* * *

 _ **Chapter Twenty: Disappearance**_

The dark beast stood there in silence, its one glowing eye devoid of emotions as its head slowly turned from side to side, taking in the surroundings.

He was frozen in… fear, as its eye – hollowed, like the void itself – landed on him. It did nothing, merely exhaling a puff of smoke from the crack in its mask, the blood-red cloak and the tattered cowl dancing softly to the wind he had failed to notice from all the struggles that had happened.

Kanda took an instinctive step back, his sword-arm painful as his grip on Mugen became impossibly tighter.

Alma looked up at the beast, who returned his gaze, with a smile. "Long time no see, Owl."

The lower part of its white mask opened, turning it into a mouth. Exhaling more steams like a machination of flame and fuel, it croaked. "Indeed, it has."

The Earl growled as the Noahs suddenly tensed. His eyes shifted to Allen who staggered up, holding Tokusa in his arms. Those silver eyes found his, and they reflected the same terror Kanda never thought he'd saw on either of them. The pure form of terror from facing the unknown.

" _Owl!_ " The Earl bellowed, a sphere of Dark Matter crackling in his hand as he spoke. His wicked grin turned even madder as he threw the condensed energy at the Owl. "Die!"

Explosions, then smoke, consumed its form. No roar of pain, no staggering, not even slightest movements. It stood there and took the hit as if it was but a swat of paper. When the smoke clear, one of its shoulder-mounted blade-arm was now gone, leaving only the bubbling stump, the flesh flowing and frothing like liquid. It turned to look at the Earl with a low grumble in its chest.

"Do wait your turn, Lord Millennium."

Its eye then returned to Alma, and they locked their gaze for but a second –

Before Alma, still smiling faintly, was cut in half then had his upper half devoured in the blink of an eye.

It didn't hit him instantly. Too surprised, too shocked, too pained to register what had happened before him. His whole body shook as he stared at the beast, who took the remains of Alma into its three-clawed hand and consumed that as well. He heard Allen's distant cry of shock and terror, and the gasps of surprises.

It growled, blood dribbled from the crack that he took for a mouth, and roared up defiantly into the open, cold sky.

A second later, everything crashed into him, and he yelled at the top of his lung, Mugen digging deep into his hand as he rushed at the beast blindly. He had no more thoughts left, only this pure, unadulterated anger, this agonizing pain in his chest.

He didn't even have the chance to say goodbye or take down Alma himself.

His sword did nothing to its crystal-red blade as it parried his strike with ease. Its eye glanced up towards the Earl, who in turned glared back with so much intensity that Kanda was sure that, if he was at the receiving end, he would've cowered and disappeared.

The beast pushed him away with such strength he was sent flying into Allen and Tokusa, sending them all tumbling into the ruins. He groaned and sat up, gripping his arm – ripped apart by the sudden burst of Mugen's power due to his anger – and glanced at Allen who was looking at him with those eyes –

"Kanda…"

"Not. One. Word." He growled as his eyes shifted towards the beast. It didn't even spare him a glance as it turned its attention to the Earl. "The Owl… what's it doing here? What's the meaning of this?"

Allen's only response was silence, so he snorted in annoyance.

The beast's quilled mane – he had only come to realize it had that because now it's had its gigantic back to him – pulsated as the spikes grew in size, as if it was alive. With a quick movement unbefitting of its large frame, it spun itself in a half-circle, launching half of its quills at the Earl. They each flew with near bullet-like speed, cackling with lightning, and aimed precisely at where the Earl was.

The rock formation where the Earl had stood crumbled and exploded, vanishing into nothing as the Earl now took himself to the sky, glaring down at the Owl, whose mane regrew at the speed no different from when he grew back his limb all those years ago, maybe even faster.

"Coward." It taunted, opening its mouth and roared, slamming its hands into the earth and splitting them apart. "Come down here and fight me, Earl!"

The Earl seemed to contemplate that for a moment.

"Road, Wisely, fall back. Tyki-pon, Sheryl… you're with me."

With that he dropped down, the black great sword appearing from thin air and chopped one of its blade-arm clean off its body. The two stumps bubbled, and two flesh blades instantly sprung forth and caught the Earl by surprise, sending him off balance. The Owl advanced, its three-clawed arms and legs taking its large frame and tackled into the Noahs' destroying their formations.

Kanda got up, gripping his right arm tightly as it dangled uselessly. He glanced at his companion briefly before slowly backed away as the fight suddenly ramped up in scales.

"Kanda…" Allen murmured, hurling Tokusa up then pushed the man into his arms. He growled in protest but the serious look in Allen's eyes shut him up.

"What?"

"We need to go. While those two monsters are distracted, we need to go. _Now_!"

Urgently, the white-haired boy led him up the ramps to where the scientists and the old man Zhu was. Allen exchanged a brief look with Lvellie, who nodded in acknowledgement. Kanda glanced back at the fighting, now obscured by smoke and dusts at this point, before saying to Allen in a hushed whisper. "Can you open the gate fast enough, though?"

"It's our only shot, Kanda." He replied tersely and closed his eyes.

But then came the ear-splitting roar – the cry of the beast so great he had to cover both ears with his hands and dropped to his knees as the soundwave was enough to send his internal balancing structure haywire. The non-combatants fair worse than he was, most retching and vomiting at the noise Allen. Allen gasped and sway, trying to stay upright as he rehearsed the song in his head.

He looked back, and not a second later something whizzed past him and struck someone behind him. A sharp cry of pain followed, and he felt something warm splattering on his shoulder –

Blood.

Allen fell with a gasp as a crystalline spear struck his midsection. Blood poured from his mouth in continuous stream as he starts yelling and clawing the dirt in pain, the veins popping from around the wound and his skin started changing color.

Noah-fication…?

"That – that's not possible!" Johnny cried from a distant as he dragged his ragged form towards the boy, who is now writhing and gasping in the pool of his own blood. Kanda, too stunned to really think, turned back towards where the spear came from.

And there it was, the Owl, having its body cut open and torn apart, yet staying defiant. It roared into the sky and started beating madly around it. It must've lost it cool and started attacking everything in sight.

"Ho ho ho, now that's some nasty tricks!" The Earl said, but his laughter betrayed his seriousness. That bastard was not amused. "Fall back! We'll fight you at a more opportune time, dear Owl."

The Owl yelled gibberish this time, however – a collection of noises that couldn't be described as words. It then lunged as the Earl and sent them both tumbling before it took the Earl down the nearest cliff with it.

"Earl!" The curly-haired Noah called after his master before they all simply glanced their way one last time before falling their falling head-of-the-clan down into the bottomless pit.

Their relief, however, were short-lived, as Allen suddenly convulsed once, twice, then screamed, a wispy aura consuming him as he's lifted up from the ground, suspending in midair like a puppet.

"Allen!" The cry disappeared into the background as Allen's face is suddenly turning into a disturbing smile, his eyes gleaming gold. He looked up into the sky and seemed to embrace the darkness that had risen within him. Kanda tried to approach, but he was violently knocked back.

"Fuck!" He cursed and got up, gripping his sword as he tried to think of a way to snap Allen out of that.

There is none.

"Kanda, what are you doing!?" Johnny cried in panic as he approached Allen. He gritted his teeth and didn't answered.

He had promised to kill Allen if he turned into the Fourteenth. And that is exactly what he will do.

Suddenly, something big and… gold crossed his vision, sending him stepping back. He blinked once, twice, then gaped at the sight before him.

"…Timcanpy!?"

The golem was gigantic, to put it mildly. The thing was higher than a human being at this point. It turned to him then grin.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" He bellowed and tried to get past it, only to get flattened by its tail. Cursing and trying to break free, he snarled, "The fuck, Tim?"

"Save your blade for later."

An annoyingly familiar voice called as hundreds of charms flew from above and surrounded Allen, covering almost every inch of his body. The wispy aura and his dark skin were suddenly gone, leaving him falling to the ground hard with a gasp of pain as he looked around, confused. He tried to move his arms, his legs, but they would not budge as the Talismans weighed him down. Kanda looked up to see that Link and that Crow woman – what was her name, again? – had arrived.

Allen was bleeding a little less now, but it seemed it wasn't just that single impalement that hit him – on closer inspection, he had more wounds. Cuts, as if grazed by something. Looking around, he saw those damnable quills embedded around the place.

He must've taken quite a few hits while walking towards the others, Kanda thought grimly as he observed Allen slowly lose his strength and just gasped on the dirt weakly, his blood soaked the talismans wet.

"I hadn't thought that he'd turn into a Noah." Link stated as he dropped down. "At least the Binding Wings snap you out of it, Walker."

Allen looked up at him blearily. "Thank…"

"Don't thank me." Link hissed as he helped Lvellie up on his feet. "You're not a liability. You know what that means."

Allen sighed. "I… know…"

Then he passed out.

And so, the invasion of the North American Branch fell to a quick and confusing end as the Owl's presence seemed to have complicated things and deterred the Earl's plan simultaneously.

A thought lingered in Kanda's mind; what is that thing? What are its purposes?

* * *

It took him a moment to realize that _not everyone_ had returned.

The deployment was a total disaster, with many injured and lost without gaining a fucking thing out of it. Kanda resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the thought and just focused on hauling Allen – now barely able to stand on his own – and the fucking Tim through the Ark.

The place is crawling with people – exorcists, finders, Crows, scientists, nurses, doctors. Everything was just chaotic, and it wasn't to his liking at all. But still, he trudged forward, shifting so that Allen's weight was leant on his shoulder a bit more. The others from the North American branch had now either walked to the treatment center on their own or, in the cases of the nerds, back to work.

"Kanda…" The boy murmured weakly, his eyes fluttered, but he didn't open them. He shifted, trying to stand on his shaky legs.

Kanda only hummed in acknowledgement of his name-calling, but did nothing else otherwise, his eyes looked to the door that seemed so, so far away.

Upon his silence, Allen muttered again, annoyed. "Kanda."

"What?" He snapped.

"Rei hasn't returned."

His brows furrowed, and he looked around. If he heard the comms correctly, hadn't it said that everyone is accounted for?

"The comm said –"

"I _heard_ ," Allen gritted out, his eyes hazy but there's a certain anger within it that gave even Kanda a pause. "I heard what they said, but – she hadn't. I just knew she hadn't. Saw Aiden talked to Komui-san about it. She is _missing_."

His heart beat painfully in his chest as he gulped, nodding silently, not daring to speak for fear of what _else_ might come out of his mouth.

He knew it, deep down. He's well aware of it that she hadn't returned, but he refused to _believe._

 _But..._ if the Sprout - the Oh-so-always-positive sprout - said so, then there's no other explanation. He gulped another knot in his throat down and pushed that into the back of his mind. That, the way he coped with _things_ by pushing them off his head - that's what he _can_ do.

So they walked in silence, and when they reached the Order, the chaotic scenario in the Ark had been amped up tenfold.

"What the actual fuck –"

"Yuu!" Lavi's voice was unmistakeable as he limped – did the idiot break the same fucking leg? Again? Really? – towards them and helped Allen off his shoulder. "Oh fuck, Al, what the fuck happened – wait, no, don't answer me yet. Let's get you patched up first then we can talk."

Link – when the fuck did he follow them? – followed Lavi and Allen as they made their way towards the nearest doctor. With nothing better to do, Kanda just shrugged towards himself and followed suit.

Upon entering the hearing range, he heard the doctor, Alexi, said, "Whatever the fuck do you guys do? Getting curb-stomp by some Akumas? Your wounds are like, more commonly found in people who got hit by a carriage rather than a soldier fighting this stupid war."

"Could you please stop with the insult?" Lavi murmured, slightly amused, as the doctor stopped Allen's bleeding and cleaned the wound as much as he could. Packing the stab wound with gauzes and bandages, the doctor steadied Allen into a sitting position, leaning him on the crates behind him.

"It's not an insult, it's a fucking inquiry," Alexi huffed. "Anyways… Where's Chief?"

"I dunno." Lavi shrugged then looked at Allen, who had more or less half passed-out now. So, he shifted his eye to the alternative choice for answer – him.

"Don't fucking look at me, I don't know either." Kanda shot his question down sharply, swatting the hands of the nurses away as he grabbed himself a shirt and put it on. Dropping onto the crate and crossed his arms, he continued. "The fucking Beansprout told me she hadn't made it back yet. That's all I know."

Alexi sighed, finished patching up Lavi and got up on unsure feet. "Fucking hell, every damn thing is a goddamn mess." He held up a hand to them then yelled, "Team One! Team Two! Double check the supplies again! Team Three, what the _fuck_ are you doing go do your _goddamn hauling work_ or I'll _kill_ you – and you there! Give me a phone!"

"Angry much?" Lavi chirped.

"These old dudes just _never_ know when to quit being a stuck-up bastard about the new triage protocols, assholes." He grumbled under his breath and sighed. "And if Rei's missing, then I'm the Chief-in-charge, here. Let's just hope she's fucking okay or I'm going to _skin her alive_ myself –"

"I believe that." Lavi hummed. Kanda would agree, even if he felt that the sentences were contradicting themselves. He shrugged it off.

"Better fucking believe it," Kanda decided to add, shifting so he would lean a bit more into their directions. "But, for now, all we can do is wait. After all, she's been _punched_ a mile away by those Artificial things, so I'd assumed she might have to make a run for it or... something."

"Artificial _what_?" Lavi asked, incredulous.

"The Artificial Owl, dumbass, like on that train?" He reminded Lavi with a snort. The other came to a realization soon after, hitting his fist on his palm.

"Oh! But- where did you last saw her? We might have a lead as to where to look."

"Jordan." He replired curtly. "After that my brain got forcefully short-circuited."

"Oh."

"Yes. _Oh_." Kanda parroted, annoyed.

Alexi was silent during the exchange, only sighing in resignation at their lack of options to find Rei. He god up to his feet then dragged a hand over his tired face. "Anyways, I'm off to work now, oh the amount of _injuries_." He groaned, then bemoaned his existence as he walked over to the other group that had just made it to infirmary.

They mostly sit in silence, and when Kanda was about to get up and get back to his room, exhausted both mentally and physically, Lavi called; "Yuu?"

"What?"

"She'll be fine." The one-eyed forced a grin on his face and flexed an arm, as if to make a point; "She's strong, that one. She'll be fucking fine."

He didn't say anything to that, just nod and walked away.

 _She hadn't returned. She's gone._

 _I hope she'll be okay._

* * *

 _ **So... Yeah. Pretty short by my standard. But I admit I kinda did this in a hurry. Sorry again! I can't promise when I'll update but I will as soon as I'm able! Thank you for sticking with me ;D**_

 _ **Until next time! Cheers!**_


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